Latest Articles

Malaysian company may build an additional 12 plants

According to recent press reports, a Malaysian company, Pioneer Bio Industries Corp. Sdn. Bhd., is about to begin building what it claims will be the world's first plant to commercially produce fuel ethanol from nipah palms (Nypa fruiticans), also known as the mangrove palm, attap palm (in Singapore), and Golpata (in Bangladesh).

Nipah palms grow in soft mud along coasts and slow-moving tidal rivers flowing into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in Malaysia.

Justices agree to hear Defenders of Wildlife case

Environmental law appears to be a hot commodity in the Roberts Court. While the justices continue to deliberate about global warming, they agreed (PDF) on Friday to add another hot-button environmental issue to their agenda: the Endangered Species Act.

Setting the Stage

The case, Defenders of Wildlife v. EPA, also implicates the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under the CWA, a would-be polluter needs to get a permit before it discharges into our nation's waters. The CWA requires that the federal government delegate permitting authority to the states, if they meet a number of requirements.

Today, almost every state issues its own permits. (EPA provides this map [PDF] illustrating which states have permitting authority.)

An urban denizen beseeches nature writers to focus on cities for a change

A plea to nature writers: Come write about Los Angeles. To all the young aspiring Thoreaus out there: Head to this megalopolis in droves, as if to Mecca. Chicago is also good. New York. Pittsburgh. Atlanta. Reno. Providence. Houston. Indianapolis. Why does the venerable American literary genre of nature writing continue to ignore cities? Sure, […]

Go! Now! Vote!

So I’m surfin’ the internets and whaddyaknow, I happen upon the nominations page for the Seventh Annual Weblog Awards. The Bloggies honor the very best blogs out there — and all the winners are chosen by the public. That would be you! Hmm … who could you vote for? Well, off the top of my […]

Enemy at the Gates

Gates Foundation invests in polluting companies that undermine its health goals The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spends more than a billion dollars a year on promoting global health — but it invests billions more in polluting companies that cause health problems around the globe. About 5 percent of the foundation’s assets are dispersed in […]

Talkin’ ‘Bout Our Generations

How to deal with the generation gap in the eco-workplace Close to 50 percent of environmental professionals and managers will soon be eligible for retirement, a prospect that has their employers worried. But more importantly, asks Kevin Doyle of the Environmental Careers Organization, what if they don’t actually retire anytime soon? It means we’re all […]

Poison Penn

Pennsylvania governor blocked from issuing mercury rule Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) got green plaudits last year when he proposed a plan to scrub 90 percent of mercury pollution from the state’s coal-fired power plants by 2015, but a little-known state agency is now blocking his move. The Legislative Reference Bureau has sided with the […]

Stop worrying about it

There may be good reasons not to frame global warming as a certain, imminent catastrophe that requires immediate mobilization — what Matthew Nisbet calls the "Pandora’s Box" frame. I’ve argued myself that fear is not the green’s friend in the long term. If nothing else, that kind of framing just doesn’t seem to be working. […]

The Choice of a New Generator

Dirty diesel generators proliferate in developing countries The good news: Access to electricity is spreading to previously unserved areas, allowing residents of rural villages to grow more crops with electrically powered irrigation pumps and connect to the rest of the world through television. The bad news: The most common power source for these communities is […]

Never gets old

The Financial Times says: "Beware the dirty hippies!" Dirty hippie Jerome a Paris responds.