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Heeeeere Techy, Techy, Techy

Vermont angling to become the green version of Silicon Valley Vermont, which has long tussled with Maine to avoid the tag of “whitest state in the nation,” is going in search of some color — green, that is. Lending depth to its nickname, the Green Mountain State is luring eco-engineers to its verdant flanks and […]

Pay No Attention to That Protocol Behind the Curtain

Twenty-year-old Montreal Protocol has helped combat global warming It kind of sucks to be the Montreal Protocol. Not only do you lack the name recognition of your compatriot from Kyoto, you also go widely unrecognized for the work you’ve done to fight global warming. The phaseout of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons under the Montreal treaty — […]

Teller All Your Crazy Dreams

Bank of America announces $20 billion green initiative In perhaps the largest initiative of its kind evah, Bank of America has announced a $20 billion investment in being all green and stuff over the next decade. The largest U.S. retail bank will use most of the moola to finance green-focused commercial clients, while also offering […]

All the cool kids are using BerkShares

Here in southwest Mass. there's a new local currency issued by a nonprofit that's been making a splash with recent stories in the NY Times and on ABC national news. There are 230 businesses accepting BerkShares already, and there are 140,000 in regular circulation.

Lessons on getting the numbers straight

What's a percent or two? Or three? Not much, sometimes. But a lot when we're talking about carbon dioxide emissions that are throwing earth's climate out of whack. And quite a lot when effort is going into ranking emission sources to help prioritize our responses to the climate crisis.

These thoughts are occasioned by a scoop in the Guardian (U.K.) reporting that world shipping -- essentially, freighters and tankers moving goods and raw materials -- accounts for "up to 5% of the global total" of carbon emissions. "CO2 output from shipping [is] twice as much as airlines," shouts the Guardian headline, in light of the 2-3 percent share of emissions associated with air travel.

Goodness, a dozen eco-blogs seemed to mutter in unison, have we been barking up the wrong tree? Were we wrong to hammer globe-girdling celebs and fret over cheap air fares, instead of targeting ships carrying shirts from Bangkok to Berlin and plasma screens from Seoul to San Francisco?

Well, not so fast.

I thought ‘blue’ was the color we were going for …

I'm convinced publications do these things just to drive traffic. So, doing my part for Gristmill, here's a piggypost* of Treehugger's How to Green Your Sex Life.

Turns out totalitarian gov’t helps

… the Bangkok way.

Over global warming, of all things

As you’re probably aware, the old guard of the conservative evangelical movement has lashed out against the new guard over the subject of global warming. James Dobson, Gary Bauer, and Tony Perkins — has America ever puked up a more loathsome triumvirate? — are trying to pressure the National Association of Evangelicals to fire its […]

A chat with Inconvenient Truth co-producer and Hollywood bigwig Lawrence Bender

Meet Lawrence Bender, the Hollywood producer who lent his big-screen savoir faire to the success of the Oscar-winning sensation An Inconvenient Truth. Lawrence Bender. It’s not Bender’s first brush with Oscar fame. He produced Academy Award best-picture nominees Good Will Hunting and Pulp Fiction, as well as Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and other Quentin Tarantino […]

A must-read

Let me most enthusiastically recommend this article in American Scientist on plug-in hybrids. It’s by an engineer named Andrew Frank that’s been working on hybrids in various incarnations since the early ’70s. You green techno-geeks will love it. It’s one of the most accessible pieces I’ve ever read on the history, technology, and challenges of […]