Latest Articles

15 Green Cars

The greenest way to get around? On your own two feet, of course, or on a bicycle, unicycle, skateboard, or public transit. But if you still find yourself in need of a car, these are some of the best green options on the market. If we zoomed right past your favorite eco-friendly auto, tell us […]

Sharks vs. humans

Humans kill something like 100 million sharks annually. More humans are killed annually by dogs and by falling coconuts than are killed by sharks. At such levels, humanity will certainly survive its encounter with dogs and coconuts. The same cannot be confidently said of sharks and people.

The U.S. Shark Finning Prohibition Act is, unfortunately, another law whose name is misleading. The law carries a loophole that makes enforcement difficult. Sharks are allowed to be landed after their fins have been cut off. It's time to shut down that loophole and require that fishing companies prove that they are only killing the legal number and types of sharks for their fins by landing the creatures fully intact.

Sharks help to maintain an essential balance beneath the water's surface. Removing them from the ocean creates booms in prey species further down the food chain, which, in turn, can create terribly destructive cascading effects on countless ocean creatures.

A new series pivots around ethanol

Randomly, last night I caught the debut episode of the new CBS series Cane. It’s about the Duque family, a Cuban-American clan in both the sugar and rum businesses in South Florida. At the outset of the show, the Duque’s long-time rivals, the Samuels — a drawling family of white Southerners — offer to buy […]

Umbra on sustainable meat

Dear Umbra, My wife and I recently began changing the way we eat. We located several free-range/pastured farms here in the area, and found that some local restaurants buy meat from these farms. We plan on supporting these establishments. My question is, are there any major food chains that use good meat? Rich Brantner Fair […]

A call for suckers

Little Stevie Milloy’s outfit is offering $100,000 to the person who can "prove, in a scientific manner, that humans are causing harmful global warming." Fine print: This exciting opportunity will cost you $15. Think of it as a sweepstakes, only with Ed McMahon peer-reviewing articles on particle physics, and nobody winning. Now, the phrase "prove […]

And he should know what he’s talking about

Someone with a lot of experience in advanced reactor technologies says nukes are not worth pursuing as we contend with peak oil and climate change.

The latest skepticism, debunked

Not that anyone but a denier or two believed that some microscopic revision in a few years of temperature data meant the theory of human-caused global warming was even slightly undercut -- but progressives need to know all the rebuttals. I emailed Gavin Schmidt at RealClimate about this -- I'm sure I wasn't alone -- and he put together a very nice debunking post.

As Gavin writes, "there is clearly a latent and deeply felt wish in some sectors for the whole problem of global warming to be reduced to a statistical quirk or a mistake." Sad.

The world’s expert on recycled energy discusses … recycled energy

All across the nation, factories and power plants are wasting energy — lots and lots of it. If that energy could be captured and put to good use, greenhouse gas emissions could be substantially reduced, at a profit. Thomas Casten has been proclaiming this good news for almost 30 years now. Not only that, he’s […]

Underwater Update

Tidal turbines in New York’s East River halted temporarily for repairs The company experimenting with underwater electricity turbines in New York’s East River has found that the river’s currents are powerful. Too powerful, if you want to get picky about it: the river sheared off several blades on the 20-foot-tall turbines, and has stressed the […]

Geez, All We Got Was Karl Rove’s Resignation

Governments ruffled by climate kerfuffles in England, Australia A couple of government climate kerfuffles have broken out: In Britain, a leaked briefing paper says the country won’t meet a European Union target of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020, and suggests lobbying other nations for a more flexible interpretation of the goal or using “statistical […]