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A day with SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson, in photos

While down in the good state of Utah several weeks ago, I got to spend some time with Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, featured subject of a Dave Roberts Q&A published yesterday. The good mayor had just days before given his state of the city address, the final of his two-term run as mayor […]

Canada needs help saving it

I don’t usually pass these things along, but this email caught my eye: —– With last week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report concluding that humans are significantly increasing global warming, we’re all looking for some global warming news with a glimmer of hope and potential. To our North, Canada is on the brink of […]

An Inconvenient Truth to show in U.K. schools

Despite getting a frosty reception in U.S. public schools, the (Oscar-nominated) film An Inconvenient Truth will be distributed to every secondary school in the U.K. Environment Secretary David Miliband and Education Secretary Alan Johnson made the announcement last week, citing the film’s ability to illustrate the enormity of the climate crisis without leaving viewers feeling […]

Bush’s farm bill “reform” proposal falls woefully short

Note: This is the third of a three-column series on the 2007 farm bill. The first two columns are here and here. The author promises not to return to the topic for at least a few weeks — but will likely backslide from this pledge in his Gristmill blog posts. Can Bush point the way […]

And aiming to be green

Pop-rock quintet Barenaked Ladies is back on the road, touring through Canada after returning from their Ships and Dip cruise last month, and getting a bit of press about their efforts to be green(ish). Grist, of course, was all over that story last year. A few stats from the fall B.L.A.M. tour: Fans neutralized almost […]

Just ’cause it’s fun

Apropos of Anna's fascinating post yesterday, I decided to do a little digging to find out if Canada's superior record of concern for the environment is translating into a better record for the planet.

So far, it's not. At least not when it comes to climate change, which I'd argue is the biggest environmental (and economic and social justice) challenge facing the world.

Setting some facts straight about the future of carbon regulation in the U.S.

Gar Lipow offers up his latest critique of carbon offsets, which this time is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the underlying science of greenhouse gases. The story, for those following along at home, can be summarized thusly:

• Gar feels that carbon offsets are, among other things, the "enemy of the human race."
• I feel that offsets are an interesting policy option with kinks to be worked out. The kinks are not nearly so fundamental or intractable as some would have you believe.

The following discussion gets a bit dense, but it's also highly instructive, so I recommend soldiering through if this is a topic you're interested in.

An interview with Salt Lake City mayor and green innovator Rocky Anderson

Rocky Anderson shows off the solar panels on his roof. Photo: Kate Sheppard As mayor of his city, Rocky Anderson has been unapologetically liberal. He’s pushed through aggressive sustainability measures and energetically championed affirmative action, gay rights, and reform of the penalty-heavy justice system. He’s also been a fierce and vocal critic of the Bush […]

Reading it will make you smarter

It’s 2009. Democratic majorities have expanded in the House and become filibuster-proof in the Senate. Astride the executive branch stands the only American ever to win a Nobel Peace Price prior to being elected president: Al Gore. The star of 2006’s Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" is known the world over as a prophet […]

Bush underfunds efficiency

While Bush talks a good game on energy security, he doesn't back the rhetoric up with action. That is especially true when it comes to his own budget, as made clear in a press release from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy: