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Paris Exposed

As world awaits climate report, French capital sends a message All eyes are on Paris this week as the world waits en retenant son souffle for tomorrow’s release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. (That means “with bated breath.” We love the Google!) So Paris, ever obliging, is doing a banana dance to […]

How crooked are farm subsidies?

Just check out these proposed "reforms" and you can get a sense of what a colossal ripoff it is.

It dates back to the mid-20th century

There’s something strange and disturbing about the fact that what Naomi Oreskes says here is in an opinion column rather on than the front page of the news section. It is, from the perspective of public education and policymaking, the single most relevant fact about climate change: the basic consensus about it is longstanding and […]

Chlorine plant goes mercury free

Now that cell phones are choking hazards and television is high def, it's hard to believe some chlorine plants are still using mercury-cell technology developed back in 1894. The good news is that in the last 48 hours, one of these technological dinosaurs has agreed to enter the 21st century. Each plant that uses this technology emits hundreds of pounds of mercury pollution to our environment every year. So it is cause to celebrate when another one of these dinosaurs agrees to go mercury free.

Record profits

ExxonMobil’s profits in 2005 were $36.13 billion — the largest annual profit ever recorded by a U.S. company. So much for that record. 2006 profits: $39.5 billion. Update [2007-2-1 12:12:21 by David Roberts]: Groovy Green offers this handy way of thinking about Exxon’s profits: Think of it this way, if ExxonMobil invested less than one […]

Al Gore, Nobel winner?

Al Gore has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Two out of three is pretty darn good

It's a banner day in celebrity "journalism," y'all. Two out of the three items in TMZ's Party Favors section were environment-related:

"Monster Garage" host Jesse James was slapped with a $271,250 fine by California air regulators, claiming his custom bikes didn't comply with the state's clean-air laws. The bikes were spewing 10 times the legal limits of hydrocarbons ... While traveling to the U.S. to receive an environmental award, Prince Charles opted to take a commercial plane instead of his private jet because he didn't want his visit to cause unnecessary pollution ... An escaped prisoner who stole singer Crystal Gayle's tour bus was arrested in Daytona Beach after a five-day manhunt.

OK, OK, the banner day was actually Sunday -- can I help it if I've been too busy going to class to keep up with my gossip blog reading? (And yes, that is the stale stench of martyrdom in the air.)

Umbra on insulation

Dear Umbra, I recently discovered that our attic is not insulated. While I live in the fairly warm climate of San Diego, we’ve been hit by a cold spell the last few weeks and I’ve cranked on the heater. I’d really like to insulate my home and was wondering what is the most planet-friendly method […]

The report may pass over some of the worst dangers

The report hasn't even been released yet, but one of the big stories around this Friday's release by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the conservative edge to the final product, which does not fully account for the melting of the Greenland and/or Antarctic ice sheets.

GOP strategist Frank Luntz argues enviros are failing — and they’re mean to boot

Frank Luntz, the famed Republican pollster and messaging consultant who helped to shape Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract With America, thinks environmentalists are mean. Frank Luntz. The author of a new guidebook on politically effective language, Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear, Luntz is credited with popularizing use of the […]