Latest Articles

Crist

Florida governor Charlie Crist is arguably greener than John McCain, and is often discussed as a possible running mate. Here he is kissing McCain’s ass, conspicuously failing to deny that he’s being considered for the VP slot, conspicuously failing to say he wouldn’t take it, and listing the three major issues for the general campaign […]

Portfolio magazine lists eco-saint and eco-sinner companies

The magazine Condé Nast Portfolio has produced a “Toxic Ten” list of companies that claim to be green, but really ain’t. Among those called out: Cargill, in part for egregious water pollution; Ford Motor Co., in part for the unimpressive overall gas mileage of its fleet; Boeing, in part for a lack of transparency about […]

GM’s Lutz can think whatever he wants, but the record shows his actions hurt the climate fight

Yesterday, a post on the Wall Street Journal’s energy blog discussed the controversy over GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz calling global warming a “crock of shit.” It said: Some, like Wired and Grist, buy his argument: As long as GM keeps making progress toward electric cars and expanding the role of alternative fuels like ethanol, […]

A review of six green laundry detergents

Let’s get down and dirty … about your laundry habits. You may think you’re in the clear, but every time you use your conventional, chemical-filled detergent, you could be affecting your health — as well as the health of waterways downstream. That doesn’t sound so fresh (and so clean, clean), so I decided to seek […]

South Fla. power outage

There’s seems to be some confusion out there about exactly what happened in South Florida today, but as far as I can tell, some power lines went out at a substation, which caused a nuclear plant to automatically shut down, which caused power outages for upwards of 3 million people. Nice grid. I liked this […]

Ban on loaded firearms in national parks may be lifted

Photo: iStockphoto The Interior Department plans to revise regulations banning loaded guns in national parks, and park rangers and green groups are up in arms (figuratively, of course). Current rules, which require guns to be disarmed and stowed away within park boundaries, “are not unduly burdensome, but are limited, reasonable, and necessary,” says the president […]

Notable quotable

“I have the same feelings about wind as I had about the best oil field I ever found.” — financier and oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens

Factory farms fight to avoid reporting on toxic emissions

This article in the WaPo shows yet again how insidious the agricultural lobby in this country is, and how we need leadership that will take it on. This time it's the factory farms fighting laws that mandate that they provide information on their emission of toxic gases (from animal waste).

Breaking the power of the agricultural lobby should be a top priority for the environmental community; at every turn it fights for corporate welfare and against environmental progress and the public good.

Clinton only candidate to appear at energy forum on Thurs.

The Greater Houston Partnership had planned a bigtime energy forum where all the presidential candidates would come and discuss America’s energy future. Only Clinton agreed to come. Despite that, it should be interesting. There will be lots of players from Big Oil & Gas there, and they want to hear about what they euphemistically call […]

EU-27 emissions down 8 percent since 1990

The European Environment Agency (EEA) reports:

Total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-27, excluding emission and removals from land-use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), decreased by 0.7% between 2004 and 2005 and by 7.9% between 1990 and 2005.

Over the same period, 1990 to 2005, U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions are up an alarming 17 percent (PDF). The EEA report underscores a point I have made repeatedly -- the transportation sector remains the toughest nut to crack: