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Will the next president stop construction on the border wall?

Last night's debate included some good news for the embattled wildlife and landscape of the Southwest.

In response to a question about whether or not they would slow construction of the border wall under construction in the Southwest, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton criticized the wall as ineffective and counterproductive.

Protests arise over British government’s “eco-town” plans

The British government is preparing a shortlist of sites for high-density, carbon-neutral eco-towns, but is coming under consistent protest from villagers who don’t want ’em nearby. Many residents living near the proposed sites have concerns that, eco or not, new development will take over agricultural land, increase traffic, and burden local infrastructure. Says Mark Sullivan […]

Tasty hatin’

All you Lieberman-Warner haters will not want to miss David Sassoon’s "The 10 Dominoes Toppling Lieberman-Warner."

How to make the case against coal

Synapse Energy Economics has recently put together a report for NRDC that ought to be required reading for anyone who objects to dirty or expensive power (e.g., coal-fired, central station power). The report, entitled "The Risks of Participating in the AMPGS Coal Plant" (PDF), is ostensibly only about a specific 960MW plant that AMP wants to build in Ohio. But their report speaks volumes about the larger economic and environmental challenges to coal-fired central station power, and provides a wealth of hard data to those who (admittedly, like me) believe that we have vastly cheaper and cleaner options to serve our growing power needs.

It is also notable for its self-restraint, arguing against the plant in purely economic rather than moral terms. For this reason among others, it ought to be mandatory reading for any environmentalist looking for a framework to support cleaner power.

Toxics report shows slight dip in U.S. releases overall, mercury releases up

The U.S. EPA’s 2006 Toxics Release Inventory just came out, showing a slight decline in total toxic chemicals released in the country, as well as a 17 percent increase in releases of mercury. Individual states showed mixed results, with Arizona’s total toxic releases shooting up by 52 percent from 2005 to 2006 due almost entirely […]

Will Oscar’s eco-efforts pale compared to last year?

This story has been updated with breaking news about the greening of the Oscars. See below for details. Matt Petersen and Salma Hayek at Global Green’s pre-Oscar bash. Photo: Global Green Last year’s Academy Awards were a veritable green fest, what with Inconvenient Truth‘s multiple wins and the Gore/Leo announcement about the Oscars officially going […]

Two huge power plants offer different paths forward

In Sweetwater, Texas, a company called Tenaska has applied to build what will be the nation’s first bona fide "clean coal" plant — an IGCC plant that will capture and sequester CO2 emissions. (Said emissions will be used to pump more oil out of the Permian Basin oil fields, which will then be burned and […]

Ungreen sport of golf becoming less popular in U.S.

A little birdie told us that the number of bogey men still sand-trapped in the golf club has fallen by 13 percent since 2000. By which we mean, golf is becoming less popular in the U.S. Guess it’s just par for the course, as the golfing green is anything but green. If golf enthusiasts are […]

There was no consensus about global cooling in the ’70s, says study

The scientific consensus in the 1970s about “global cooling” is a beloved argument of global-warming skeptics — and little more, says a survey of scientific literature between 1965 and 1979. During that time period, seven peer-reviewed articles supported global cooling, while 44 predicted global warming. “There was no scientific consensus in the 1970s that the […]

China kicks off the coal-to-liquids rush

Looks like China is about to uncork the CTL genie, opening a plant to produce liquid fuel from coal. This won’t be the last: A study last year by the Chinese Academy of Sciences said: “Production of liquid fuels from coal is practically the most feasible route to cope with the dilemma in oil supply.” […]