Latest Articles
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Is climate change the most important global problem?
Is climate change the most important global problem we face?
This seems on its face a good question. Economists like Bjorn Lomborg take this reductionist recipe, spice it with an unshakable confidence in future growth, and conclude that climate should be low on our list of priorities.
Lomborg's arguments follow from his assumptions. If his conclusions are wrong as they appear, perhaps the logic is wrong, or the data, or the underlying premises. All of these are good places for skeptical inquiry, and may be fruitful, but there is yet another place to look. I suggest that Lomborg asks the wrong question.
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Countering the pro-natal propaganda wave
Lo and behold, once again doing what's best for the planet (rather than, say, advertisers or your in-laws) turns out to be also the best thing for your own happiness.
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A fish story in the Telegraph
Update [2007-4-22 12:29:39 by David Roberts]: Gore’s people deny it all. Figured. Friends of Al Gore have secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House. So says Tim Shipman in the Telegraph. I suggest a high degree of skepticism. The story […]
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Are hybrids for men?
You could not pay me to write drivel like this. Conspicuous in its absence is the Prius. Chickenshit editor took it out fearing a backlash from the many subscribers who drive them. This article is so bad I'm embarrassed for the author. Don't bust your gut laughing:
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Pollan weighs in
Michael Pollan thinks so. Let's hope he's right. Call your Senators and Representatives to make sure.
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The lost art of conversation
I passed a big rabble of bikers on my way to downtown Seattle yesterday evening. Several complimented my bike as I passed. There were a couple of talls in the mix. I assumed it was another Critical Mass ride, but maybe not. Sure looked like fun. I need to participate in one of those someday.
I periodically attend a monthly gathering of Seattle atheists. There are always new faces, and they pick a different restaurant every month for variety's sake. We chatted about things like global warming, the recent shootings in Virginia, diesel verses hybrid cars and, of course, the American propensity for religiosity.
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Once a year, the press notices that politics is bad for the environment
Almost too easy:
[S]urrounded by boxes of energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs [Pelosi] wants to install in 12,000 desk lamps, she became conspicuously vague when asked about the pair of towering smokestacks four blocks away.
Congress runs the Capitol Power Plant, which heats and cools buildings on the Hill. Two senators ensure it burns coal, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels. -
Wouldn’t it be great if Beijing did pull off a green Olympics?
Along with some guy named Al Gore, Olympics chief Jacques Rogge has been honored with an award by the United Nations for being an environmental enforcer. Good on ya, Jacques! (Perhaps he was behind the fancy sewer heating system in Vancouver?) The next Olympics hurtling our way is Beijing 2008, and apparently the International Olympic […]
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Check your local listings
All the magazines have gone to press with what's become their annual Green Issue. And now TV is in on the act.
MTV has a special Earth Day edition of Pimp My Ride: they take a '65 Impala, put in a 800 hp diesel engine, fill the tank with biodiesel, and race it against a Lamborghini. My money is on the Impala. Cameo by Governor Schwarzenegger, check local listings (April 22). While this isn't exactly a recipe for sustainability, that's not really the point, either. Everyone should work to their strengths, and if MTV can make it sexy to get the kids involved, all the better.
PBS is airing a NOVA special titled "Saved by the Sun," which asks the provocative question: "Is it time to take solar seriously?" Yes, is the answer. It features a hero of mine, Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates, who built the first solar powered neighborhood in 1984, put what was then the world's largest solar system on the roof of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and is now designing a solar system for the SF Giants baseball stadium. He has been doing this longer and better than anyone else in the business and fully deserves his day in the sun. Ahem. April 24, generally 8 PM on your local PBS station, check local listings.
