Latest Articles

On slow food, communal eating, and Reubenesque sandwiches

This is the last in a series of articles about connecting with people over spring meals. Read others on setting up a dining co-op, celebrating Passover, hosting an Earth Dinner, and appreciating slow food. In my last column, I wrote about the slow-food movement, which unites people interested in flavors, food preservation, and, of course, […]

Patrick Moore proves to be — gasp — a nuclear shill

We anti-nuclear folks are frequently accused of closed-mindedness. Like, you know, Chernobyl is so 1980s. Get with the here and now, man.

So I was interested to see how nuclear shill extraordinaire Patrick Moore would react to the news that the Canadian oil industry is increasingly interested in geothermal power as an alternative to nuclear in the heat-starved tar sands developments. The heat produced by obviously-feasible technology would be a perfect fit, and if those tree-hugging hippies in the oil sector are interested, surely there's something to suggest it, right?

Nope, not for Moore. It's nuclear or nothing. Talk about closed-minded.

A great profile

Time magazine has a long, insightful, and sympathetic profile of Al Gore in the latest issue. The theme is "the last temptation of Gore," i.e., the temptation of running for president. But as the article makes clear, it’s not that tempting, for all the reasons we’ve discussed here before. Anyway, read it — it’s extraordinarily […]

New financial instruments may one day plug cities’ building codes into global carbon market

The William J. Clinton foundation has arranged billions in financing to help a coalition of sixteen cities cut urban emissions by applying a range of energy efficiency measures to aging buildings.

Efficiency measures tends to get lumped in under the heading of conservation, but they really deserve to be their own full-fledged category of solutions to global warming. If conservation is simply doing less of a polluting activity, efficiency is doing the same activity with less energy. Turning off the lights is conservation. Screwing in a compact fluorescent light bulb is efficiency.

Efficiency measures deserve their own category because they are among the most important strategies for reducing emissions. Emissions reductions from efficiency projects are immediate (which is good), they are often cheap or even free (which is great), and they don't require individuals to make significant changes to behavior (which is important to quick adoption, no matter how much we might wish otherwise).

An interview with underground foodie hero Sandor Katz

Sandor Katz. Like a well-made batch of kefir, the ancient cultured milk drink, Sandor Katz has an effervescent quality. Spend time with him or read his classic Wild Fermentation, and you’ll see your food in a new light. Bread, cheese, cured meats, chocolate, beer, wine, vinegar — all are products of fermentation, he points out: […]

Not On My Botch — Uh, Watch

Katrina refugees say FEMA trailers making them sick As states in the Southeastern U.S. brace for this year’s hurricane season, new Federal Emergency Management Agency head David Paulison has a promise: “You won’t see what happened with Katrina happen again in this country.” Paulison assured a crowd of emergency responders in Florida that the “new […]

Now There’s Room for a Live Earth Concert

Scientists find snowmelt, new species in Antarctica It’s been a bad news-good news kind of week for Antarctica. Scientists from NASA and the University of Colorado revealed that a California-sized expanse of snow melted there during a warm spell in 2005, farther inland and at higher elevations than expected. The team was cautious about drawing […]

In Eighteen Hundred Seventy-Two, Ulysses Made the Greenies Blue

Legislation introduced to overhaul ancient mining law In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a mining-regulation law — and while resource extraction has changed significantly since then, the rules haven’t. Now Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) is seeking to revamp what he calls “the Jurassic Park of all federal laws,” introducing a proposal that would require […]

Naval Gazing

Five environmental groups sue Navy over sonar use off Hawaii Tensions over the U.S. Navy’s use of sonar in anti-submarine exercises off Hawaii have resurfaced, and five green groups are suing to change the practice. Citing concerns that sonar can kill and injure whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals, the lawsuit names both the Navy […]

And if I could work another 7 in there, I would

The Live Earth website has been updated with a fancy (and much improved) new design that features a different “Climate Crisis Solution” every time you refresh the page (not that I’ve refreshed it multiple times in an effort to see every single tip …). And lately, news tidbits about the concerts are popping up fast […]