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On Gingrich’s new conservative environmentalism

A few days ago I got a review copy of Newt Gingrich’s new book, A Contract with the Earth. We’ve got somebody else reviewing it, so I don’t plan to read it. I do, however, want to make two observations, one on policy, one on politics. On policy: Gingrich’s shtick is that leftists took over […]

Major car-sharing companies will merge

Major car-sharing companies Flexcar and Zipcar announced yesterday that they plan to merge. Zipcar, the larger of the two, has had strong growth mainly in large cities on the East Coast; Flexcar is more widely available on the West Coast. In both schemes, members can reserve a car over the phone or the interwebs, generally […]

Can urban planners save the earth?

A couple of weeks ago I was in Vancouver, B.C., at a conference where it seemed like everyone was talking about a new book called Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change.

Reviewing dozens of empirical studies, the book's central argument is that urban form is inextricably linked to climate. Low-density sprawl has been a principal contributor to North American climate emissions. And by the same token, smart compact development -- the kind that fosters less driving -- is essential to curbing climate change.

From the executive summary:

Today’s Dilbert

Manufacturing a new economy

If we eat food from local sources, we can decrease our ecological footprint, reduce carbon emissions, and eat better food. In addition, any society that cannot produce its own food is vulnerable, as it cannot create one of society's main sources of wealth. It just makes sense to grow food locally.

The same principles apply to manufacturing. Grow locally, eat locally; more generally, consume locally, produce locally. In the case of manufacturing, "producing locally" would mean consuming goods that were mostly manufactured within your major metropolitan area, with most of the rest coming from around the country, but certainly not from around the world.

Should Gore get arrested protesting coal?

It’s a little sketchily sourced, but according to Mark Hertsgaard Al Gore is “considering” joining the Rainforest Action Network in some direct action protest against coal plants — which could well result in his arrest. Hertsgaard thinks it would be a good thing: If Gore did end up getting arrested during a protest against a […]

Groups will sue over protections for giant spitting worm

No Halloween would be complete without an update on the Palouse earthworm, which can grow up to three feet long, spits on predators, and smells like flowers — even when not in costume. The pinkish-white worm was denied federal endangered-species protection earlier this month on the grounds that the filed request was incomplete and unclear. […]

IBM announces new process to reuse, recycle silicon wafers for solar panels

Tech giant IBM announced it has developed a simple new process to recycle the silicon wafers it uses in many of its products. The process extends the silicon wafers’ useful life, and when that life is finally over, the wafers can then be sold to make solar panels. IBM calculates that if all of the […]

A look at Rudy Giuliani’s environmental platform and record

Rudy Giuliani. Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who served as mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, talks up energy independence as a critical component of national security. He acknowledges that climate change is happening and that humans contribute to it at least to some extent, but he doesn’t often address the issue […]

Nuclear plants require lots of water in an increasingly dry world

No, I don't mean cost, safety, waste, or proliferation -- though those are all serious problems. I mean the Achilles heel of nuclear power in the context of climate change: water.

Climate change means water shortages in many places and hotter water everywhere. Both are big problems for nukes:

... nuclear power is the most water-hungry of all energy sources, with a single reactor consuming 35-65 million litres of water each day.

The Australians, stuck in a once-in-a-1000-years drought, understandably worry about this a lot: