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Spring summit underway

From an article in the Guardian:

Divisions over nuclear power and renewable energy threatened to derail the EU's campaign to assume a global leadership role in the fight against climate change at the bloc's spring summit which began last night. [...]

But France, backed by several east European countries, insisted carbon-free nuclear power be included within the EU energy mix and rejected [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel's proposal to make a 20 percent target for renewable energy binding on all 27 members.

At his swansong summit, the outgoing French president Jacques Chirac insisted that he would only agree to binding energy targets if nuclear power were included and proposed that 45 percent of the mix come from non-fossil fuel sources. France gets 80 percent of its power from nuclear power plants.

Aristotle in the climate age

Alex Steffen: To think that we can “solve” climate change without addressing poverty, human rights, democratization, conflict, epidemic disease, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, food issues and the like is to suffer from carbon blindness. Any climate plan which does not have sustainable prosperity as its ultimate goal will fail, just as surely as any effort […]

Young Dems sexify your mug

It’s about cups. Sexy, sexy cups. Well, actually it’s about getting college students thinking about the planet and about changing their personal habits. But the “sexy” sure doesn’t hurt. The University of Washington’s Young Democrats club launched a Sustainability is Sexy campaign this month to encourage students to bring their own cups to the campus’s […]

Global Inheritance seeks creative types for new project

The creative minds over at Global Inheritance are at it again with an exciting (and somewhat mysterious) project they’re calling the Energy FACTory. The project will be part of a … ahem … certain live event reaching some 200,000+ people over a 10-day period in SoCal in late April/early May. (My sources reveal that the […]

Cuba’s response to its peak oil emergency

The Orion Grassroots Network just screened this new film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil for a capacity crowd, and I'd recommend it to any organizer seeking to stimulate conversation about how to start to getting our communities off of oil.

Vote passes easily

Today the House of Representatives voted to create the much-discussed committee on global warming: The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a rule to create a committee that will focus on climate change. On a vote of 228-195, the House approved creation of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. House Speaker Nancy […]

An ecotourism success story

Conservation news is generally depressing, to say the least. Apparently, this has been pointed out to the folks at Mongabay and that is why they came up with the "happy-upbeat environmental news" section for those who just can't take it anymore. I really enjoyed this story about two Ecuadorian brothers who turned their land into a birder's paradise rather than a plantation. I know a few birders and they spend most of their vacations looking for new species to cross off their "must see before I die" list. Some are taking it to another level with photos that they can upload to the internet for additional bragging rights.

Blog Against Sexism Day

Today is International Women’s Day, and in honor of that, bloggers are banding together for Blog Against Sexism Day. So what do environmental concerns and women’s issues have in common (and how much do I hate the phrase “women’s issues” anyway? I can’t think of one of ’em that’s not everyone’s issue)? Well, where to […]

Possibly the most important environmental issue out there

Understanding the role subsidies play in environmental outcomes is crucial; I would argue that it is the most important environmental policy issue of all. So here's a very quick primer.

My address to the Southern Appalachian Youth on Food conference

One crop to rule them all. Photo: USDA Tucked into the rolling hills of North Carolina’s Swannanoa Valley, Warren Wilson College is essentially surrounded by a farm. The school’s 800 students not only tend the 275-acre farm — which includes pastured livestock and vegetables — they also provide the labor to run the campus. They […]