Latest Articles

Ichiro! Ichiro!

I watched the end of the MLB All-Star Game last night. I missed Ichiro Suzuki’s inside-the-park home run, alas, but did see the post-game when he was declared MVP and presented with a Chevy SUV hybrid. It’s a step. Maybe next year, the All-Star MVP will be presented with free solar panels for his house. […]

McDonald’s trucks to use french fry grease as fuel

On July 2, McDonald's announced plans to convert its entire British fleet of 155 delivery trucks, which consume about 6 million liters (a little less than 1.6 million gallons) of diesel per year, to run on cooking oil from Britain's 1,200 McDonald's restaurants. The company pledged to make the switch within the next twelve months. In an apparently unintentionally ironic statement, VP John Howe said the fuel wouldn't smell like french fries -- though, he remarked, the Pavlovian effect that would have been "one of the best marketing campaigns we've ever had." Two steps forward, too many back.

Umbra on biodegradable products

Dearest Umbra, With biodegradable corn-plastic products like clothes hangers, credit cards, and trash bags, we are led to believe there are good alternatives to plastic that can be thrown out guilt-free. But doesn’t all trash get put in landfills that are then hermetically sealed to prevent the bad contaminants from leaching out, but hold in […]

Many offset critics appear to be shadowboxing

I’ve been watching the public debate over carbon offsets out of the corner of my eye for some time, and have formed a general impression, which I would like at long last to get off my chest. Offset critics often strike a moralistic tone, comparing offsets to medieval "indulgences." Let’s be clear: That rhetorical gimmick […]

Climate skeptics lose even more credibility

The first half of 2007 is the warmest Jan-June period on record, +0.79°C above the long-term average (from NASA GISS data, via QuarkSoup.net).

For those who question the consensus on climate change, see the collection of proconsensus statements at Logical Science (hat tip: Michael Tobis). Just recently, my department (the Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University) unanimously adopted a statement endorsing the primary conclusions of the IPCC reports. See the statement here.

In the scientific community, virtually no one believes that solar variations are the dominant driver of climate over the last few decades. However, among skeptics, this has been one of the last remaining shreds of hope for a non-human cause of climate change. New research, however, validates the doubt of the scientific community:

Writing in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, a journal of Britain's de-facto academy of sciences, the team said that the Sun had been less active since 1985, even though global temperatures have continued to rise.

"Over the past 20 years, all the trends in the Sun that could have had an influence on the Earth's climate have been in the opposite direction to that required to explain the observed rise in global mean temperatures," they write.

Tracking the nation’s most brilliant up-and-coming health researchers

What’s that you say? Some vaginal spermicides may ease transmission of human papillomavirus (HPV)? Why, what kind of brilliant post doc researcher uncovered that counterintuitive and potentially industry-shaking result? Must have been one smart fella.

The great biologist offers thoughts both hopeful and harrowing

In a great interview with Bill Moyers, Wilson talks about his new Encyclopedia of Life project, and what it will take to spark a new green revolution. "We desperately need leadership," he says.

Think They’ll A-Peel?

Latin American banana farmers sue U.S. companies over pesticides A pesticide designed to eradicate worms from Latin American banana trees may have had a detrimental effect on workers’ … oh, how to put it … bananas. At least 5,000 agricultural laborers from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama have filed five lawsuits in the […]

It’s Not the Sun

Sun is not causing current global warming, researchers confirm Attention all ye who think the sun might be a primary cause of climate change, and all ye who know someone who thinks that: No. It’s not the sun. Researchers have published a study of the last century of solar activity, finding that the sun’s output […]

Frankly, Madeira, We Don’t Want a Dam

Brazil gives go-ahead to controversial dams in Amazon Brazil has given the preliminary OK for two hydroelectric dams to be built on a major Amazon River tributary. Business leaders, who say the dams will provide much-needed energy, are impressed; greens, who see the project as a disaster waiting to happen, are depressed. Proponents say the […]