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Because Encouraging Efficiency Is Too Hard

Department of Energy creates cellulosic ethanol research centers Cellulosic ethanol continues inching toward its time in the sun: the U.S. Department of Energy announced plans yesterday for three bioenergy research centers to open by the fall of 2009. Hoping to market new technologies within five years, the centers will focus on identifying microbes that can […]

The Tahoe Blues

Blaze rages around Lake Tahoe; blame game begins in earnest What’s to blame for the raging fire that has burned more than 200 homes near California’s South Lake Tahoe? Try the homogenous stands of white fir planted post-clear-cut by 20th-century miners. Or was it this year’s low-snow winter and current drought? Perhaps criticism should be […]

A nifty video

Quantum Shift TV has made a video about the coming farm bill called "Soil: The Secret Solution to Global Warming.” It opens with Canadian superstar farmer Percy Schmeiser, and segues into a smart discussion of farm bill politics. It’s about 9 min. long. Check it out:

Greenies read the NYT

Interesting (?): Three of the four top emailed NYT stories today (or at least, at this moment) have an environmental bent. “Waiter, There’s Deer in My Sushi” is about Japan’s quest to sushify various non-fish meats — deer! duck! horse! — as restrictions have gone into place to combat overfishing of tuna. “Enjoy Your Green […]

Hansen says scientists need lovin’, too

NASA climate scientist James Hansen has a new paper out, titled “How Can We Avert Dangerous Climate Change,” which is actually a slightly-edited version of his testimony before Congress in April. The paper is available online here (PDF), and it’s worth checking out, of course. But also interesting is the preamble Hansen included in his […]

Do parents lose or gain by taking kids outdoors?

I'm a little bitter about not playing soccer.

Or softball. Or piano. I did take dance lessons, but the name "Klutzy Chrissy" didn't happen by accident.

My parents preferred to send me outside. Even in our Detroit neighborhood, which developed a reputation during the last 30 years of offering a wide assortment of crack houses, my friends and I explored the alleys while making sure to wear shoes as protection from broken bottles.

Ah, nature.

When journalists go too far

I could have been sitting across from a writer of US Weekly or OK Magazine, but I wasn't. I was sharing an hour of my morning with a journalist from Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in Switzerland. Granted, my interview was for their "softer" weekend edition, NZZ am Sonntag, but even that paper carries the weight of its weekday counterpart's esteemed name. That's why I was shocked to read a spuriously devised, albeit glamorous, story of my life when the article appeared.

Let's get one thing straight: The "journalist" did not slander my name. It was quite the opposite: He had me sharing a photo shoot with Mayor Bloomberg; saving sharks in Miami; buttering up old-school Sierra Club veterans; and convincing motorheads to shut off their cars in exchange for bikini-clad pictures. Ooh, how naughty of me!

He even quoted me in conversations -- on topics ranging from recycling batteries to rainforest preservation -- that never took place, built off of scenarios that never happened. Even the water I was drinking during the interview wasn't "glamorous" enough for him. He had me sucking back a Starbucks coffee after a whirlwind tour around the country. Note to future interviewers: I've never drunk coffee in my life.

15 Green Politicians

From mayors to heads of state, politicians the world over are going green. Check out our list of top achievers, then tell us which political leaders you’d nominate in the comments section at the bottom of the page. Photo: Thomas Hawk via Flickr Arnold Schwarzenegger The Governator has truly pumped up environmental action in California. […]

Can’t … look … away …

I’m told there’s a story attached to that picture at the top, but I can’t seem to get past it. My cute-o-meter is pegging.

To act not to act

I regularly receive a letter from Ted Glick, the coordinator of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council, who recently was arrested for hanging a banner on the NOAA building to protest their mishandling of climate information. He has joined with others in calling for a fast on September 4th:

We are calling on thousands of Americans to voluntarily give up food for one day on September 4th, 2007. Other participants will fast even longer beginning on that date, some for weeks. Our appeal to you is to consider joining us in this climate initiative called, "So Others Might Eat: The Climate Emergency Fast." ...

What will we be calling for? Three things: no new coal or coal-to-liquid plants; freeze greenhouse gas emissions and move quickly to reduce them; and a down payment of $25 billion for energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy.

Ken Ward has recently posted here about the efficacy of protest.

The problem as I see it is that in the past, direct action and protest have had very clear achievable goals, whereas in the case of global warming, we know we want drastically reduced carbon emission, but the devil is in the details.