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Friday music blogging: Brother Ali

Finally, a little hip-hop for FMB. Brother Ali — your standard albino Muslim rapper out of Minneapolis — made some waves in the underground hip-hop world with his debut album Rites of Passage, and then blew up pretty big with 2003’s Shadows on the Sun. Then four years passed, during which Ali ran into label […]

Green groups sue over DOE’s plans for electric transmission corridors

Green groups are suing the Department of Energy over its plans for electric transmission corridors in the U.S. Southwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. The groups say the DOE violated environmental laws by failing to take into account the potential impacts of the high-voltage transmission lines on air quality, wildlife, and habitat; the corridors encompass dozens of […]

Schwarzenegger proposes closing some California parks

As part of a plan to slim down the state budget, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed to close 48 state parks — and nature lovers are none too happy.

Gore’s impromptu humor at a recent small climate summit

I'm not normally given to shameless name-dropping, but what else are blogs really for (other than making bets with readers)?

Over the last three days I attended a small climate solutions summit hosted by the former vice president and current Nobel laureate. It was off-the-record, so I can't report on presentations directly, but they have made me a lot smarter about the latest technologies and strategies for clean energy, which will inform my blogging this year on climate solutions. I will say now as an aside that I have become much more bullish on the potential for large-scale solar photovoltaics as a result of attending these meetings.

The VP asked me to speak for seven minutes on hydrogen at dinner Wednesday. Before dinner, I gave him a copy of the brand-new paperback edition of -- warning, shameless product placement -- Hell and High Water. He looked it over for a few minutes and said, deadpan:

From Scoring to Score

What can beige do for you? This poor albino penguin has no luck with the birds; but he’s got brothas in the Beige Brigade, a Kiwi cricket club whose tastes lie beyond the pale. Aw, the li’l fluffball finally found some mates. Photo: The Beige Brigade The kids on the bus go melt, melt, melt […]

Maldives builds higher-altitude island, can’t attract residents

The tiny island nation of Maldives is at high risk of being swamped in years to come: it rises a mere three feet above sea level. So officials are building Hulhumalé, a human-made island with an altitude of more than six feet, capable of housing as many as 150,000 of the nation’s 369,000 inhabitants. There’s […]

New certification in the works for green hotels

Saw a passing reference in a piece on travel trends about a new certification scheme for green hotels. Supposed to be developed in the next 90 days, says Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. AHLA’s site, meanwhile, has a list of hot green hotel progress, ranging from Motel 6 using sensors […]

Knitters seek out eco-friendly yarn

Photo: iStockphoto Knitting is a hot hobby these days — raise your hand if you received a hand-knit scarf as a holiday gift — and stitch ‘n’ bitch regulars are eager to break out from toxic-dyed, pesticide-sprayed cotton yarn. The next time you’re in the yarn store, keep an eye out for a to-be-sweater of […]

The Chrysler Town & Country freaks me out

I was leafing through the Feb. Bon Appetit — the magazine’s first “green” issue; more on that in a future “Edible Media” post — when I came upon an ad for something called the Chrysler Town & Country. It shows a white suburban family standing in front of their SUV and McPalace, glowing and looking […]

Canada oil sands not good for the environment, says study

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Canada’s oil-sands operations have been given poor environmental marks in a study by green groups Pembina Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. Ten oil-sands ventures in the province of Alberta, including seven that have not yet started producing, were rated on their pollution of (or potential to pollute) the land, […]