Latest Articles
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Chait on the netroots
Jon Chait has an expansive new piece in The New Republic about the rise of the “netroots” — i.e., the partisan, activist liberal blogosphere. I have my quibbles with some parts, particularly in the second half, but overall it’s a far more comprehensive, fair, and respectful look at the netroots than you’ll find anywhere else […]
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New Monbiot piece
From "The Rich World's Policy on Greenhouse Gas Now Seems Clear: Millions Will Die," by George Monbiot:
Rich nations seeking to cut climate change have this in common: they lie. You won't find this statement in the draft of the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was leaked to the Guardian last week. But as soon as you understand the numbers, the words form before your eyes. The governments making genuine efforts to tackle global warming are using figures they know to be false.
Read the rest.
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How to reduce your household energy consumption, easy-like
Last Sunday's New York Times honed in on the dubious practice of Americans buying carbon offsets to brand themselves carbon-neutral. Andy Revkin, the paper's global-warming reporter, quoted me saying, "There isn't a single American household above the poverty line that couldn't cut their CO2 at least 25 percent in six months through a straightforward series of fairly simple and terrifically cost-effective measures."
My claim has hit a nerve. Despite the absence of a link, already a dozen readers have tracked me down on the web and written to ask what measures I have in mind. This article is for them and anyone else who might be interested.
First, a confession. As often happens, assertion preceded analysis. But my claim didn't come from thin air -- I have experience in energy analysis and a feel for the numbers. With a bit of figuring, I made a list of 16 energy-saving (hence carbon-reducing) steps that together should do away with a bit more than one-quarter of a typical U.S. household's carbon emissions.
The top five:
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Motivation aside, the ad’s still true
West Virginia Dems Rep. Nick Rahall and Sen. Robert C. Byrd are fighting mad over some "despicable" anti-coal ads that have appeared in major publications recently.
The ads, underwritten by a natural gas company called the Chesapeake Energy Corp, show faces smudged with make-up meant to resemble coal dust under a headline reading: "Face It, Coal is Filthy."
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Is the starfish story really just bunk?
The estimable biodiversivist wrote, in another thread, that "What we do as individuals is insignificant compared to changes in carbon neutral energy generation and transportation infrastructure."
Which is both true and not true, I think. It reminds me of the story about the little tyke throwing starfish stranded on the beach back into the water, and being told by the parent that it didn't matter, leading the child to say, "It does to this one."
Cute story, all chicken-soupy-for-the-environmentalist's soul and such -- but is it really just bunk?
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And Maybe We’ll Finally Clean Out That Closet
Daily Grist taking day off tomorrow, back on Thursday You know how, after you’ve been working for months on end, you get a hankering for a day off? You’re not sick, but you feel a little burned out, and you’re pretty sure tending to your own needs would help you do your job better, so […]
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Pep Rally
PepsiCo buys a lotta renewable-energy credits, tops EPA green power list The U.S. EPA released its quarterly list of the top 25 buyers of green power yesterday, with the No. 1 slot filled by a new kid in the renewable-energy biz. That would be PepsiCo, which vaulted to the top of the list by announcing […]
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Let My River Go
Unleashing Mississippi River could be key to restoring Louisiana wetlands Painfully aware that their state is sinking, Louisiana politicians are pushing a $50 billion plan to fight wetlands erosion by unleashing the Mississippi River. The river built much of the southeastern part of the state over time, through sediment deposits. But levees and other restraints […]
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Are We Having Fund Yet?
Neglect, underfunding cause Superfund cleanups to dwindle Twenty-seven years ago, Love Canal prompted the feds to invest resources in cleaning up America’s most toxic sites and start shaking down the polluters responsible for creating them. But a new study from the Center for Public Integrity finds that underfunding of Superfund in recent years has severely […]
