Latest Articles
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And You Should See ‘Em Pop a Wheelie
Hypermilers squeeze every last drop out of their fuel economy Your hybrid only gets 47 miles per gallon? Too bad for you, sucka. A small group deeming themselves “hypermilers” has adjusted driving habits to use the teeniest amount of gas possible, and boasts of achieving up to 112.2 mpg. These bad-ass fuel economizers have moved […]
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That’s It, No More Toothpaste For Us
Growing palm-oil plantations put orangutans in peril Thank your lucky stars you evolved, because it’s not a great time to be an ape. In Indonesia and Malaysia, forests are being converted lickety-split into lucrative palm-oil plantations, and orangutans that leave their rapidly diminishing habitat to sneak in for a palmy snack are often tortured or […]
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He’s Having Nun Of It
Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson commits to business as usual It takes a brave man to stare down a pleading nun, but that’s what Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson did yesterday. At a shareholder meeting in Dallas, Sister Pat Daly of New Jersey and others spoke in support of a resolution her order submitted, proposing that Exxon […]
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Interesting juxtaposition of stories
Interesting juxtaposition of stories:
First, an essay on what has become of organics, as it turns into what Fromartz calls "Organic, Inc."
Then, Energy Bulletin links to a story suggesting that some Brits might deny the organic label to food flown in from abroad.
And, of course, there's the post right here on Gristmill about labeling as an attempt to help consumers understand the effect of their purchases.
The issue boils down to the fact that our prices don't help consumers understand anything about food; in our perverse system, the food that has traveled the furthest at the greatest energy expense may often be the cheapest. As a smart man put it:
"Socialism collapsed because it did not allow prices to tell the economic truth. Capitalism may collapse because it does not allow prices to tell the ecological truth."
-- Oystein Dahle, former vice president of Esso for Norway and the North Sea
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A conference for green money types
Right now there’s a big conference going on in London: "Corporate Climate Response." All sorts of international corporate bigwigs (and some smallerwigs) are in attendance, discussing businessy green stuff. A crew of folks is live-blogging the event here, replete with audio, video, and good old fashioned text. If you want a glimpse into the concerns […]
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WTO talks could end fishing subsidies
Most ocean conservationists are on pins and needles in anticipation of the results of this week's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. But I'm also thinking about another three-letter acronym and how much good may be coming out of it. W-T-O. That's right, the World Trade Organization.
In Geneva (and at the current Doha round) there's serious talk of cutting government subsidies for commercial fishing -- the fundamental driver for the unsustainable exploitation of the oceans. I just returned from there, where I met with Pascal Lamy -- head of the WTO -- and, together with Professor Rashid Sumaila of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, briefed a large number of the delegates.
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Pollution hasn’t gone down of its own accord
It was only a matter of time before Planet Gore got around to the most famous bit of disinformation.
The big lie is to tout the fact that the air has gotten cleaner in recent decades while conveniently ignoring the fact that the reason for this achievement is environmental activism leading to tough air pollution standards. Progressives must push back hard on this big lie (something John Kerry failed to do with George Bush in the second Presidential debate).
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CTLariffic!
Business writer Marc Gunther doesn’t like liquefied coal. Neither does the New York Times editorial board. If we have any musicians in the audience, do me a favor: write a song called "Coal Is the Enemy of the Human Race." I’ll do my best to make it a hit.
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Depends on how it’s made
It depends on the fuel used to drive the conversion process -- according to a new study:
In particular, greenhouse gas emission impacts can vary significantly -- from a 3% increase if coal is the process fuel to a 52% reduction if wood chips are used.
These results come from the energy life-cycle wizards of Argonne Lab, who have published a new study, "Life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas emission impacts of different corn ethanol plant types," in the open-access Environmental Research Letters.
Here is a figure showing "well-to-wheels greenhouse gas emission changes by fuel ethanol relative to gasoline":
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Oy
How did the wingnut critique of Rachel Carson (worse than Hitler!) move from the lunatic far-right fringe to the slightly-less-lunatic conservative mainstream? Tim Lambert does a little digging and find that the answer traces back to … Big Tobacco. Seriously.
