Latest Articles

Umbra on tidal power

Dear Umbra, Much is made of wind, solar, geothermal, and even wave power, but why doesn’t anyone talk about tidal power? It has more power than wind for the same turbine, without the eyesore of turbines, is totally renewable, and is predictable hundreds of years in advance. Yet nobody talks about it. What’s wrong with […]

A gender fender mind-bender

For the last few weeks, my fella and I have been staying with a male friend during a monthlong gap between homes. Fella and Friend work at the same company, about 30 minutes away. Every morning, Fella and Friend get up, go about their morning routines, get in their cars, and leave — all within […]

Why Do I Still Feel So Hollow?

GE unveils carbon-offset credit card, other companies pondering same move Some people say you can’t shop your way to happiness, but they haven’t met the new GE credit card. Yes, the company that brought us “ecomagination” has imagined a way into wallets everywhere. The GE Money Earth Rewards Platinum MasterCard — hang on, have to […]

Pimp My Shrimp

Wal-Mart environmental practices changing shrimp farming in Thailand Latest practice impacted by omnipresent Wal-Mart: Thai shrimp farming. Crustacean aquaculture, long demonized for destroying mangrove trees and polluting waterways, is the focus of new standards penned by the Global Aquaculture Alliance and backed by Wal-Mart, Red Lobster, and other big seafood purveyors. To make the grade […]

Twenty-two Hours of Darkness and Two of Light

California utility commits to massive solar buy, B.C. deals with oil spill Call it the light and dark sides of the energy industry: yesterday, as news spread that a major California utility will make a ginormous solar buy, a British Columbia neighborhood was drenched in crude oil spewing from a broken pipe. Related? Only in […]

Making things out of wood sequesters carbon, turns out

One telling point that carbon tax advocates make against cap-and-trade systems is that they create an enormous incentive for rent-seeking. Now it seems the timber industry is getting in on the game. Via Greenwire (sub rqd), this has my BS alarm all a-ringin’: [Timber] Industry groups are lobbying Congress and making a public relations push […]

Virgin Festival ‘near-zero waste’ for first time

The two-day Virgin music festival next weekend at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore will feature performances by The Police, The Smashing Pumpkins, and the Beastie Boys, as well as some bettin’ on the ponies (!) — but organizers are also gambling on concert-goers to "green it like they mean it" as they plan for a […]

Solar has arrived

Pacific Gas & Electric is buying 550 MW of concentrated solar. It’s one of the biggest solar purchases ever, from what will be the world’s biggest concentrated solar plant. The company is trying to conform to California’s mandate that it get 20% of its power from renewables by 2010. According to Mr. [Fong] Wan [VP […]

Traveling toilet warns us about sewage pollution

Um, ew. American Rivers has a new campaign to raise awareness about sewage contamination in our rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. It involves a talking toilet named “Flushie”:

Walkable town centers are hip

In "Center points: Urban lifestyle gains foothold in growing list of suburbs," a Chicago Tribune journalist describes the beginnings of a new phenomenon that could have a bigger impact than better CAFE standards, carbon taxes, or cap-and-trade of emissions, in my humble opinion: walkable town centers.

If people could actually walk from their residence to a store, train station, or even work, perhaps the constant rise in miles driven in automobiles would start to come down:

At opposite ends of the generational spectrum, Baby Boomers and buyers in their 20s are getting credit for supporting the emergence of suburban centers where people live close to restaurants, stores, theaters and even boutique hotels and spas. The key is to find housing that is an integral part of a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.