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You, yes you, can act to fight climate change

If the wacky weather we’ve been having, the suffering of endearing creatures, the possible cancellation of this year’s Polar Bear Club swims, or the catastrophic melting of Arctic ice has you hot and bothered, you’re not alone. Though it’s easy to cower in your basement wearing your duct tape bodysuit and motorcycle helmet feel defeated, […]

Renewable uranium vs reality

Please be advised that nuclear power is neither a renewable nor a clean source of energy. For that matter, oil, coal, and natural gas are also not renewable or clean sources of energy.

Thusly does a letter from 100 groups and businesses admonish Mr. Bush for his cute "renewable" claim in the SOTU. That Bush is angling at subsidizing nuclear power under the banner of being green, though, is highly disturbing.

Ouch

Sen. Barbara Boxer invited the Governator to testify to the EPW committee about his state’s global warming regulations, but he … had urgent matters to attend to. “Meetings he can’t miss,” as it happens. Would you want to get stuck between Boxer and Inhofe if you agreed with the former and shared a party with […]

It’s a frenzy

Those of you waiting on the edge of your seat for the IPCC report — which will be released in about 3.5 hours — can kill time by reading Andy Revkin’s account of the last-minute negotiations going on in Paris as we speak. Everybody from scientists to industry groups to enviros to governments are haggling […]

The hype goes on

I used to follow the "eco-terrorism" hype fairly closely, before my gnat-like attention span wandered on to other things. Those of you still interested should check out this long and exemplary article on the subject by Matt Rasmussen in the current issue of Orion. It will catch you up on all the latest haps.

Small is beautiful.

Here is a fun article from The Green Wombat retelling the "solar-to-hydrogen" car story for the millionth time. I read stories like this in Popular Mechanics decades ago. The article talks about using solar panels to store sunlight as hydrogen to burn in internal-combustion-powered cars. Australia has a lot of sunlight and summers can be hot. It would be far more efficient to use that sunlight to power swamp coolers to air-condition homes than to throw 90% of that solar energy away converting it to hydrogen and then burning it in a 30% efficient internal combustion engine. Passing hydrogen through a fuel cell to power an electric car or light a home would also be a lot more efficient.

All these green initiatives, oy

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott just announced a comprehensive new initiative called “Sustainability 360,” which will attempt to infuse environmental concern in every part of the company’s operations: “Sustainability 360 takes in our entire company – our customer base, our supplier base, our associates, the products on our shelves, the communities we serve,” said Scott. “And […]

Business is already acting on the climate threat — and waiting for Washington to catch up

You don’t need to look for receding glaciers or pore over the latest IPCC report to know that climate change is already happening. Just talk to Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. Captains of industry want to know what’s up ahead. Photo: iStockphoto The company relies on ice bridges to move equipment and materials through the northern […]

He predicted climate change in the ’60s

With poetic license: Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the clime, it is a-changin’. […]

Search for ‘global warming’ to no avail

Check out a post from James Annan, who details how, out of 438 documents on Whitehouse.gov the contain the phrase "global warming," only a single one is returned when using the Whitehouse.gov search engine.

Color me stupefied. It's almost like they are trying to hide something. On purpose even. Who'da thunk it?

[Update] As most of you probably know, this may be one of those "don't attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence" moments. (see more detailed update here).

I'd have to say that in analyzing the current Whitehouse policy on just about anything, figuring out which it is, malice or incompetence, is a black art.

Of course, the end result is one and the same, from Katrina to Iraq to fiscal policies to the environment to homeland security to international diplomacy to...