Latest Articles

Angels and Airwaves to perform on campus this Sunday

In the interest of keeping you informed, I offer the final chapter in the mtvU GE Ecomagination Challenge. As you may (or may not) recall, students were asked to propose projects that would green their respective campuses. Out of more than 100 entries, 10 finalists were chosen, and then you voted to help pick the […]

This model is no longer untouchable

During college, I went through an ill-advised phase during which I tacked photos of supermodels I was never, ever going to look like on my dorm-room walls. One of my twiggy idols was Shalom Harlow, whom I loved because she a) really knew how to work the red lipstick and b) seemed like the least approachable person on the planet.

No longer. This year, not only did she show up on the cover of Domino's Green Issue, she also (as Amanda Griscom Little reported) popped up at the Sundance Channel's Green Party, spouting nuggets of folksy green wisdom, like this one:

We have a flushing system at our house where we only flush if it's number two.

Goodbye untouchable supermodel. Hellloooooo, environmentally astute woman of the people!

We’ve all got planks in our eyes

It’s been a while since we all confessed our eco-sins. Inspired by these San Franciscans, I think it’s high time we all opened up to each other again. And go! (As long as you abide by the strict confessions-only rule — no chiding allowed.) Me? I love to drive and hate to bike (although I […]

Just wanted to put that out there

This is rarely said openly, but needs to be.

Yes, climate change is a serious problem; yes, we should address it; but beware of easy solutions and feel-good measures like carbon neutrality that are more than likely scams than serious measures, since they more often than not pay people to do things they would already have done.

BREAKING: Gore still not running!

But some people want him to. As always, watch this space for updates on Gore’s non-candidacy.

Helping homeowners monitor electricity use

One piece of the smart-grid puzzle is home electricity monitoring — allowing homeowners (and eventually business and factory owners) to track their electricity use in real time. As the old saw goes, what gets measured gets done. Simply making people aware of energy flows is the first step to helping them modulate those flows efficiently. […]

There’s more room than you think

(Part of the No Sweat Solutions series.)

As almost everyone who studies the subject concludes, one key to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is efficiency. Renewable sources generally provide energy at a slightly higher market price than fossil fuels. Oh, there are exceptions: passive solar heating, wind electricity, biofuel from waste. But overall, if we get all our energy from low-emitting sources, we will spend more overall per BTU. If we can use those BTUs efficiently, our overall energy bill can be the same or lower.

Warming Law: new blog on green court cases

Did the EPA really think the Mass. v. EPA decision was a "stunner"? Isn’t that the kind of thing you prepare for? On that note, check out a new blog: Warming Law. It was started in the wake of Mass. v. EPA to analyze that decision and its effect on other important pending environmental cases. […]

Or, what I learned watching The King of Queens last night

What I learned while watching The King of Queens last night: Once you give up meat, it’s a slippery, slippery slope to becoming one of those nagging, know-it-all, hemp-hawking, finger-pointing, tree-hugging, self-righteous environmentalists we’re all trying to distance ourselves from (or most of us, anyway). The episode begins as main character Doug Heffernan — a […]

If you won’t go after them, we will

The IPCC reports are some of the most highly anticipated of 2007. An obvious sign? Within two weeks of one report's release, papers are already covering a leak from the next.

IPCC Working Group III's focus is on mitigation, meaning a fair number of policy implications can be derived from its conclusions. So here's a hint for America's auto industry: the report calls for urgent action on road pollution.

In the United States, there are 483 passenger cars per 1,000 people (EarthTrends). The world average is about 100, and few countries outnumber our car count (Australia, for example, had 492 in 1996).