Latest Articles

Fuel-efficient vehicles could save you several times over

A proposed new California law would take from the guzzlers and give to the sippers:

Call it the Robin Hood approach to global warming. California drivers who buy new Hummers, Ford Expeditions, and other big vehicles that emit high levels of greenhouse gases would pay a fee of up to $2,500.

And drivers who buy more fuel-efficient cars -- like the Toyota Prius or Ford Focus -- would receive rebates of up to $2,500, straight from the gas-guzzlers' pockets.

UC system greens electronics program

Yolanda just posted a bit on UC Berkeley’s pending approval/disapproval of a Green Initiative Fund. And in more green UC news, last week all of the UC system got a little greener by passing an “Environmental Sustainability Policy” that includes provisions on energy, global warming, waste, and eco-friendly electronics purchasing. As part of that pledge, […]

Berkeley students vote on a new sustainability fund

Tomorrow through Friday, UC Berkeley students will vote "yay" or "nay" on TGIF (aka the Green Initiative Fund), a $5 increase in their per-semester fees that will be used to finance "initiatives on renewable energy, energy efficiency, resource conservation, and 'green' student internships."

Last year, UC Santa Barbara (my school, fools) passed TGIF. Now Berkeley folks are playing catch up with this incredibly slick online campaign. Most compelling statistic: UC Berkeley uses as much electricity as Cambodia.

Video below the fold.

Roughnecks have it really rough

It's harder to view oil and gas workers as disposable when their stories are told. And that's what Ray Ring does in the latest issue of High Country News. In a special report, Ring painstakingly documents the stories of oil and gas boom workers who have lost their lives and limbs in the past six years, all in the service of cheap energy. I won't quote much here, since the story simply must be read, but here's an small excerpt:

Workers get crushed by rig collapses, they fall off the steel ledges and the maze of catwalks and ladders and walkways, they get caught in spinning chains, winches and cables. Sometimes they get strangled by their own fall-protection harnesses. On or off the rigs, they handle flammables, and sometimes they get fireballed. They succumb to poisonous hydrogen sulfide, which occurs in natural gas before it's processed; one whiff is fatal. They get slammed by valves and pipes that explode under high pressure. They get hit by lightning, freeze to death and die of heat stroke, because the work takes place outside, and it goes on 24/7, 365 days a year, pretty much no matter what.

Grinding to a Halt

Changes in USDA policy could hit organic coffee hard Hold onto your latte: News is seeping out about a change at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that could affect the cost and availability of organic products from developing countries, including bananas, spices, sugar, and coffee. Normally, a farm must undergo an annual inspection to get […]

Heart of Glass

Wracked with plastic-bottle worries, parents turn to an old standby Anxious parents are snatching up glass baby bottles after a February report showed that plastic bottles can contain bisphenol A, a chemical that mimics estrogen. One website saw about a tenfold increase in glass-bottle sales before running out; a company in Ohio got 300 glassy-eyed […]

Do They Even Have Roads There?

Vermont court hears landmark vehicle-emissions case This week, the U.S. state with the fewest registered cars will take the driver’s seat in the race to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions. A Vermont court will hear a landmark case on whether the state’s adoption of a stringent California emissions law is legal. Under the Clean Air Act, states […]

Our prez nearly made a slip of the plug

The funniest news lede I've read in a long time:

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

Apparently, our befuddled prez was about to stick an electrical plug into the hydrogen tank of a Ford hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid. This act, if completed, would have generated Hindenburg-esque bad publicity and probably made Cheney our next president. (Eep!)

To make the save, Mulally apparently "violated all the protocols," grabbing the president's arm and steering him away from the plug.

Maybe that's exactly what Bush needs: someone who's not afraid to step in to steer him away from stuff that's eventually going to blow up in his -- and our -- face.

Wonder if Mulally would accept a pay cut ...

How many washed-up reality stars does it take to screw the environment?

According to Ecorazzi, Kelly Osbourne became a mite confused last Thursday night en route to a party for Dita von Teese. Said party was being held at the same venue as Elle magazine's "Green Bash," and the Spawn O' Ozzy ended up on the wrong red carpet.

Her reaction when she realized her mistake? "Screw the environment."

Get in line, Kelly. Get in line.

Learning is fun

Check out this great article in the Washington Post. It explains many of the pitfalls and unintended consequences that have occurred under the EU's system and some of the challenges the US will likely face.