Latest Articles

Borneo is disappearing for biofuels

Rhett Butler (of Mongabay) has returned from his recent travels. This photo of a poison dart frog is from that trip. Go here to see a slide show of Panama (highly recommended). One of his first posts tells us:

China has agreed to invest in a $5.5 billion biofuels project on the islands of New Guinea and Borneo ... According to The Wall Street Journal, one million hectares [3,861 square miles, which would take 4 hours to drive around at 60 MPH] have been reserved for the eight-year plan, which would convert tropical forest for oil palm, sugar, and cassava plantations.

The article goes on to say that these governments have promised to spare 84,000 square miles of mountainous rainforest in the center of Borneo (to get the environmentalists off their back). Go to this WWF site for a graphic demonstration of how fast Borneo is being consumed.

You know any?

The longest-serving member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is retiring. Here’s what he has to say about Yucca Mountain: Ed McGaffigan, a veteran member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Monday that the Yucca Mountain program is deeply flawed and that the Nevada nuclear waste site should be scrapped. "It may be time to stop […]

David James Duncan rows through a wheat field to save salmon — and we’ve got pictures

Photo: Frederic Ohlinger “The miracle meal after the Sermon on the Mount was both loaves and fishes,” says author and storyteller David James Duncan. “Not one or the other. Both.” It’s a sentiment that helps to explain why Duncan and a variety of compatriots were photographed in 13 colorful dories, rowing and casting lines — […]

It’s in the movies

I enjoy the DeWittian sting of James Wolcott's writing as much as anyone, but even a good critic can go wrong sometimes. He underestimates Little Miss Sunshine, which resonates far beyond its modest means -- even on an environmental scale.

Here's why:

A column from Romm

In his State of the Union address, President Bush threw away the last opportunity he had to save his historical legacy. He continued his business-as-usual do-nothing approach on global warming, which is the gravest threat facing the American way of life. As I wrote earlier in a column for the Center for American Progress web site:

Run out of a Senate committee, no less

How is it that taxpayers are funding what looks like an official Senate committee blog dispensing far-right agitprop? Here’s the story. Toward the middle of last year, then-chair of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee James Inhofe (R-Okla.) hired Marc Morano as his communications director. Morano is a long-time operative in right-wing media circles, […]

Warming people believe, humans at fault, not so much

The Pew Center has released new polling data on climate change. The report shows that while 77% of people believe the earth is warming, only 47% believe there is solid evidence that humans are responsible.

Soup-er news for greens

In a recent NYT op-ed/obit for the inventor of ramen noodles (R.I.P. Momofuku), Lawrence Downes wrote, “Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Give him ramen noodles, and you don’t have to teach him anything.” If that sentiment makes you chuckle … and then salivate, I’ve got good news: In […]

Weak brew

Bush's much hyped U-Turn on climate wasn't even a Double U-Turn. All he said was:

‘Climate change mitigation would lead to disaster’–Not really, but this may be lesser of two evils

(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide)

Objection: The kind of drastic actions required to mitigate global warming risk the destruction of the global economy and the deaths of potentially billions of people.

Answer: Is this supposed to mean the theory of anthropogenic global warming must be wrong? You can not come to a rational decision about the reality of a danger by considering how hard it might be to avoid. First things first: understand that the problem is real and present.