Latest Articles

I’m sure whoever has the best argument will win, right?

There’s an interesting piece today in CongressNow on the debate over auctioning vs. giving away credits in a cap-and-trade system. (CN requires a subscription, which you can get for the low, low price of $1500 or so. I’m on the 10-day evaluation thing, so enjoy these pieces while they come, ’cause there’s no way Grist […]

It ain’t working

The Washington Post has a piece about Obama’s attempts to split the difference (thread the needle? straddle the fence?) on the subject of liquid coal. Y’all are probably sick of hearing me talk about this (watch for an op-ed soon!), so I’ll outsource the making of the basic point to Brian Beutler and Brad Plumer, […]

Climate change science questioned

In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, Emily Yoffe asks an interesting question:

All this is not to say that it's not getting warmer and that curbing our profligate environmental ways is not a commendable and necessary goal. But perhaps this movement is sowing the seeds of its own destruction -- even as it believes the human species has sown its own. There must be a limit to how many calamitous films, books and television shows we, and our children, can absorb.

It doesn't seem sustainable to expect people to remain terrified by such a disinterested, often benign -- it was so nice eating out on the patio! -- and even unpredictable enemy.

China trumps U.S. as biggest CO2 polluter, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: And They’re Off Canary You Hear Me Now? Be Still Our Beating Hearts Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Gameboys Search Engine Engine Search Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: The Hand That Feeds Pay for the Rays […]

Don’t call it a subsidy

David Roberts' recent post compelled some ideas that have been germinating for awhile, but are too long for just a comment on his post. Namely: we should stop talking about the need to subsidize green technologies, and instead frame the debate as a need to level the playing field.

An annual conference for perennial inspiration

Westerners are known for their pluck and willingness to solve problems with grit and imagination. Combating climate change, developing renewable energy, promoting rural economies and local agriculture, strengthening communities, and ensuring equitable access to transit ... these are all pieces of a Western manifesto put forward by the Sopris Foundation's great annual conference, this year in Missoula from July 13-15.

Elected officials, planners, ranchers and farmers, grantmakers, citizens, activists, and entrepreneurs are there for this indispensable conversation every year. How about you?

Umbra on peeing at the beach

Dear Umbra, When at a beach with no bathrooms, is it better, environmentally speaking, to urinate in the ocean or behind a sand dune? Tom Greenville, N.C. Dearest Tom, A good, silly summer question to consider as regards our impact on the natural environment. There are non-environmental concerns with beach urination as well, such as […]

Moscow on the Cud Sign

Russian capital introduces label for GM-free food Now you can have your GM-free borscht and read it, too: next week, the city of Moscow will debut a groundbreaking label for foods that are free of genetically modified ingredients. Under the leadership of Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, the city has devised a voluntary system of testing and […]

Boulder and Wiser

IBM plans green data-center expansion in Colorado High-tech grandpappy IBM will undertake an $86 million expansion of a greenish data center in Boulder, Colo. The company will add 80,000 square feet to a 225,000-square-foot facility, using energy-efficient lighting and heating, efficient building design, and energy-conservation technologies in the data gear. It’s all part of a […]

Canary You Hear Me Now?

Climate change a contributor to Darfur crisis, says U.N. report A United Nations Environment Program report says brutal conflicts in Sudan are tied to the effects of climate change, including severe drought. Competition over scarce resources, including water, timber, oil, and land, could spark more fighting unless the issues are addressed, says the report: “Ignoring […]