Latest Articles

If you can really call Chris Dodd a ‘contender’

Finally, a candidate for president has come out in support of a carbon tax! OK, it was Chris Dodd, but still. Dodd’s big energy speech this morning was mostly the usual stuff about tax credits and subsidies, but here’s the section that produced the headline: The truth is, we can make all the clean energy […]

Controversy in Kenya

A major controversy is brewing in Kenya right now about whether to remove the ban on wildlife hunting in order to raise money for conservation. Poaching has been devastating Kenyan wildlife; the logic is that since big-game hunters will pay lots of money to hunt big game, this will offer greater incentive to protect species and funnel money into underfunded conservation efforts.

Only the little people fly scheduled airlines

In response to this story, about how the airport tax paid by proles being herded onto commercial boxcars is spent to make life even cushier for the big guys flying Lear jets, someone defended the poor abused jet setters thus:

It is worth pointing out that those "Learjets" burn bunches of fuel and pay the corresponding fuel taxes, so they aren't getting a totally free ride. Figure 200 gallons an hour as a usable figure (jet pilots figure burn in pounds, with taxes of $.50 a gallon or so (I don't have the actual figures), and they are paying $100 an hour. The airlines do not pay the fuel taxes, instead getting a head tax from passengers. The story is not nearly as simplistic as many imagine.

Boxer is a fighter

Senator Boxer vows to take the global warming fight to the administration, rules out carbon tax in favor of cap and trade.

The San Francisco Chronicle has the details.

What About Excess Waist?

To cut down waste, some Hong Kong restaurants charge for leftovers Do you miss the good ol’ days of childhood? The park, the play dates, the eat-everything-on-your-plate-or-else lectures? Well, we can’t fit you on the child-size slide or bring back your pre-K paramour, but if you want to be chided for leaving leftovers, get ye […]

They Have Reservations

U.S. EPA adopts green guidelines for travel planning As of May, hotels and convention centers hoping to woo government accounts might need to polish their eco-cred. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has crafted a list of must-ask questions for potential hosts on topics from energy efficiency to paperless billing to towel reuse. (Anyone else picturing […]

Thought for Food

Earth Dinners keep cuisine and conversation flowing Lots of holidays have a nice big meal associated with them, but not Earth Day. Because environmentalism is all about sacrifice and denial of pleasure, right? No, silly, it’s just because you never thought of hosting an Earth Dinner. Time to change that! Grist’s Roz Cummins explains the […]

No More Dicking Around

House approves long-delayed Wild Sky Wilderness bill After five years of delay, the House has passed a bill creating a 167-square-mile Wild Sky Wilderness area in northern Washington state. The bill had been approved by the Senate three times in recent years, but stalled out each time in the Republican-led House, with former California Rep. […]

What’s Produced Here Stays Here

Air Force, Nevada go all crazy with the solar energy The largest solar photovoltaic plant in North America is coming soon to an Air Force base near you — if you live in Nevada. Nellis Air Force Base will install 140 acres of solar panels, powering 30 percent of its electricity needs and reducing electric […]

And cellulosic might too — plus it’s still a decade off

Yes, this is another bitter polemic against ethanol, but I want to make one point up front, because I sometimes forget to: The only concrete alternative energy/climate policy that our political class can agree on — a plan that unites Democrats and Republicans to commit some $5 billion per year and rising — is a […]