Latest Articles

Green un-building catching on in the U.S.

What’s the opposite of green building? Green un-building (aka, deconstruction)! And it’s catching on in the United States in that if-you-have-the-time-and-money-and-inclination kind of way. About 245,000 houses are torn town in the U.S. each year and roughly 1,000 of them are carefully deconstructed with up to 85 percent of their parts going to other projects […]

Profit motive is eating the planet

The opening of the Propel Biofuels public pump was a smallish affair. The crowd of about thirty people appeared to consist mostly of investors, public relations personnel, some alternative energy enthusiasts, lots of press, and at least one lawyer. Because of the twelve-hour notice, and because it was in the middle of the week, only two protesters made it.

There is going to be a bigger protest this Saturday (October 20), same place, same time (high noon, at the pump located at Bernie's Auto Repair -- see map). Keep in mind this will not be a protest against Bernie, but against industrial agrodiesel. The pump is self-serve and open to the public. Bernie's is closed on Saturdays.

Consider dropping by for an hour or so to support those willing to publicly protest the for-profit takeover of the biosphere. It is remarkable how much impact protests can have. Imagine what a big one would do. Al Gore has called for civil disobedience. Some think Al Gore should be arrested. In any case, I'll be there along with my hybrid electric bike. Drop by and say hello.

It seemed to me that there were two main goals at the opening:

Ann Arbor, Mich., declares itself first U.S. city to use LEDs in all its streetlights

Ann Arbor, Mich., home to the main campus of the University of Michigan, announced that it intends to become the first U.S. city to convert all of its downtown streetlights to LEDs (light-emitting diodes). The energy-saving lights use half the energy and are expected to last five times as long. In two years, when the […]

Ugh

Last night’s party in Seattle went wonderfully well, and by “well” I mean I drank well beyond excess and by “wonderfully” I mean won’t someone please kill me now and end this pain. Blogging from yours truly may be slow today, and by “slow” I mean for the love of God why haven’t you killed […]

New anti-junk-mail service stops unwanted catalogs for free

A new service set up by the Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, and the Ecology Center called Catalog Choice can put a stop to all those unwanted catalogs clogging your mailbox. Since its debut last week, some 20,000 people have signed up for the service, already halting over 50,000 unwanted catalogs. That’s a […]

Britain wades into battle for sea-floor mineral rights in Southern Ocean

The World Wildlife Fund has been trying to gather support to establish a network of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean in an attempt to mitigate increasing ecological pressures in the area from climate change, invasive species, and commercial fishing. The plight of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has often been overlooked compared to […]

Plan for northern spotted owl’s recovery in question

The future of the infamous northern spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest may be in further jeopardy if some U.S. federal agencies carry out their plans to restructure its recovery. Perhaps most potentially destructive is the Bureau of Land Management’s recently announced plan to essentially opt out of the Northwest Forest Plan — a truce […]

Umbra on planes and cars

Hi Umbra, Which is less harmful to the environment when traveling long distances, flying or driving? A jet puts out a lot of exhaust, but since it carries a lot of people, maybe it’s less than having everyone drive themselves? Craig Denver, Colo. Dearest Craig, Jeepers it was fun to find out the answer to […]

A detailed breakdown of the differences from earlier drafts

Here’s a document from the Senate offices of Lieberman and Warner, forwarded along by multiple folks top-secret sources. It shows the differences between the August draft version of their bill and the version that will be released tomorrow. I pass it along for your edification. (You’ll see that the improvements in allocation were somewhat more […]

The green movement of the Rio Grande

Yesterday, Grist published my investigation of why the environmental movement has been relatively slow and cautious in fighting the U.S.-Mexico border wall, one of the greatest manmade disasters to ever strike the Western landscape and Western wildlife.

Of course, these articles have to be readable, so I wasn't able to delve into all the details of the politics of the border wall. But I wanted to share with Gristmill readers the part of the investigation that didn't make it into the article -- about how stopping the border wall could represent a major opportunity for environmental groups to build alliances and members in a region of the country that, despite strong pro-environment sentiment, hasn't traditionally been thought of as the environmental movement's heartland. Enjoy (and I'd love your thoughts in the comments section).