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  • Putting a bounty of paper towels to the test

    Are your paper towels poisoning the planet? OK, I admit it: it’s not the sexiest product to test. Hard as I tried to convince a recent pair of weekend houseguests to take part in my experiments, they left without touching a single sheet. But paper towels are an everyday item that can make a big […]

  • Pollan envy

    For people involved in the TV business, I imagine watching The Wire — David Simon’s novelistic depiction of big-city dysfunction on HBO — generates mixed feelings. On one hand: Damn that’s good. On the other: Damn. That’s really good. It makes what once seemed excellent appear merely adequate; what was once adequate now worthless. It […]

  • The candidates are overlooking the ultimate green-collar job

    Amid the din of the Pennsylvania primary and Earth Day, it seems a fitting time to talk about where the Democratic candidates stand when it comes to Mother Earth. Have the leading Dems forgotten America’s greenest job? Photo: Freaking News Both candidates have called for ushering in a new green economy. Sen. Barack Obama has […]

  • No difference between McCain and Dems on climate

    I got home yesterday from canvassing for Barack Obama in the outskirts of Harrisburg, Penn. and found last week's edition of The Patriot-News (whose politics reporter, Brett Lieberman, describes the state as "Pennsyltucky" for its unique mix of urban, industrial, and backwoods), including a "Find Your Match" voter guide with a chart that's supposed to help people figure out which candidate is closer to them on key policies. Here's what the chart said about Obama, Clinton, and McCain on global warming:

    Clinton: $150 billion, 10-year energy package for new fuel sources; backed stringent caps on greenhouse-gas emissions.
    Obama: $150 billion, 10-year program for "climate friendly" energy supplies, favors stringent caps on greenhouse-gas emissions.
    McCain: Led Senate effort to cap greenhouse-gas emissions; favors tougher fuel efficiency.

  • Smog can kill, says report

    Short-term exposure to smog is clearly linked to premature deaths, a National Academy of Sciences report has concluded. Some Bush administration officials have claimed that the link between ground-level ozone and health is, well, hazy: when the U.S. EPA was determining acceptable air standards for ozone last month, officials in the Office of Management and […]

  • It’s happening, reports The New York Sun

    Is the U.S. on the brink of food rationing? Possibly. Reports The New York Sun: Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. It’s hard to know what to make of the report, though. The […]

  • Michael Dell offers a glimpse of an unannounced product

    Michael Dell is on stage now, going over the importance of IT for sustainability and the many worth initiatives Dell has undertaken — all of which you can read about on Dell’s site. The one newsworthy bit was the presentation of what he calls, with a distinct lack of poetry, "the unannounced product." It is […]

  • College grads hit the green job market — here’s what they’ll find

    Photo: fluffbreat Another Earth Day has come around, and that means college graduations are just a few weeks away. Soon-to-be alumni throughout the nation are dusting off résumés, poring over job listings, and then moving back into their old bedrooms at home “for a little while.” I predict a progression of messages from dear old […]

  • Walt Disney Co. gets into nature

    The Walt Disney Company has announced a new film division that will focus on nature documentaries. The creatively named Disneynature will aim to produce two films every year starting in 2009, hoping to catch the interest of some of the viewers who flocked to Warner Bros.’ March of the Penguins and the Discovery Channel/BBC series […]