Latest Articles

The House of Reps leads the way to a greener capitol

The Hill’s alive with the sound of greening. Or at least, it should be, as soon as our representatives start following through with their “Green the Capitol” initiative, the final report on which was released yesterday in Washington, D.C. The report is the result of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s call for an energy […]

Noah Scape

Big-budget, zero-carbon comedy Evan Almighty opens today Today marks the debut of a movie that is, depending whom you ask, either a shining star in the eco-entertainment pantheon or a crass manifestation of green gone bad. Evan Almighty, with Steve Carell as a latter-day Noah, bills itself as “the first major motion picture comedy to […]

Tell It to the Senate

Renewable-energy investments booming around the world Investment in renewable energy zoomed to record levels in 2006 and shows no sign of flagging, a United Nations report said this week. More than one-fifth of that investment went into companies or projects in developing countries. Thanks to high oil prices, desire for energy independence, government incentives, and […]

Johnson Stiffens Smog Rules

Current U.S. ground-level ozone standard deemed insufficient Smoggy air could get cleaner if a new U.S. EPA standard passes muster. Agency head Stephen Johnson has proposed lowering the allowable amount of ground-level ozone from 80 to 84 parts per billion to 70 to 75 ppb, since “the current standard is insufficient to protect public health.” […]

Don’t Drink the Water and Don’t Breathe the Air

Feds misled Manhattan residents about post-9/11 health effects, says report The U.S. government misled New Yorkers about residential asbestos levels after 9/11, says, um, the U.S. government. In a report released this week, the Government Accountability Office takes issue with the U.S. EPA’s claims that only a “very small” number of indoor air samples were […]

Be Still Our Beating Hearts

Senate-approved energy bill calls for fuel-economy increase First, the good news: the U.S. Senate has passed an energy bill containing the first significant fuel-economy increase in years. The bill requires cars and light trucks to get an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from the current 22.2 mpg for light trucks and […]

Communities taking action for clean water

Communities around the country are getting wise to the threat posed by the common practice of flushing old drugs, which inevitably end up in rivers after passing straight through sewage treatment facilities, feminizing fish, mutating frogs, and worse, probably.

One recent effort in coastal Maine collected hundreds of pounds of drugs for proper disposal, but this impressive total was crushed by another grassroots "clean sweep" that collected over a ton of pharmaceuticals plus an estimated $500,000 in narcotics in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in April.

These initiatives make the point very well that there is no "away" when it comes to society's waste. More resources and collection program info for Berkeley, Calif. and the states of Missouri, Maine, and Washington are listed by the Green Pharmacy Campaign here.

15 Green Musicians and Bands

Give a round of applause to these green-leaning musicians, then cheer for your own favorites in the comments section at the bottom of the page.   Photo: Danny Clinch Pearl Jam These down-to-earth rockers made headlines during their tour last year when they donated a total of $100,000 to nine organizations working on climate change, […]

Dingell floats it; Boucher knocks it down

Hmm? What’s all this now? John Dingell is floating the possibility of a carbon tax? From CongressNow (sub. rqd.): Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), who will play a key role in crafting the House version of comprehensive climate change legislation, on Wednesday night downplayed speculation that the House bill could include some form of a tax […]

One small step forward, one step, uh, sideways

You may have heard that today the Senate reached a compromise on CAFE: they will keep the 35mpg-by-2020 requirement, but drop the 4%-every-year-thereafter requirement. The loophole for SUVs will be closed. (Bizarrely, newly minted environmentalist Ted Stevens [R-Alaska] was instrumental in keeping the amendment alive.) This is good news, in a symbolic sort of way […]