Latest Articles

The latest beneficiary of biofuel subsidies: industrial feedlot operators.

So far, a huge amount of the government’s lavish support for biofuel has ended up on the bottom line of Archer Daniels Midland, the king of industrially produced, environmentally ruinous corn. Now another type of model corporate citizen is in line for a cut of the action: huge-scale confined-animal feedlot operation (CAFO) players like Tyson […]

The Salt Lake City mayor is doing amazing green things

I just got done with a long and interesting conversation with Salt Lake City’s hard-charging mayor, Rocky Anderson. If you haven’t been following the guy, check out this remarkable article in The Nation. Prepare to have your accustomed-to-bad-news socks knocked off. Since his election in 1999, he’s implemented a comprehensive plan to green the city […]

Why The Economist’s recent assault on “ethical food” missed the mark

Last month, the influential British newsweekly The Economist took the measure of the sustainable-food movement and found it wanting. “There are good reasons to doubt the claims made about three of the most popular varieties of ‘ethical food’: organic food, fair-trade food, and local food,” the journal declared, and proceeded to subject each to withering […]

It muddles the science and policy debates together

The darling of the the climate blogosphere for the last two days is an article by Andy Revkin on the silent middle ground in the climate debate. Since I am nothing if not a blogosheep, I felt compelled to follow the pack and weigh in.

The problem I have with the article is that it confuses two separate debates, one scientific (is climate change real?) and one value-based (what should we do about it?). By putting these two issues into the blender, the article confuses rather than clarifies.

Let's consider the first question: is climate change real?

A pedal-tastic roundup

On a personal new year's note, I can't help but mention the only-months-old but hopelessly addictive new habit I know I'll be nursing throughout the year: mountain biking at night.

No idea why I only started doing this recently, and in the winter no less, but there you go. And since I splurged on a set of burly studded mountain-bike tires that should be arriving any day now, snow and ice riding on both trail and street at all hours are up next. That, and on snowmobile trails.

Any others out there who want to join the ranks of proud all-weather winter cyclists, check out this excellent website. And for night riders on road or trail, I can't say enough good things about NiteRider Trail Rat headlights. For best results, get at least one extra battery (I have three extras) and maybe a fast recharger. Combine with a $30 LED headlamp for the best night cycling around.

Now for the news:

Umbra on New Year’s resolutions

Dearest Readers, Happy New Year! Welcome to 2007. Who knows what it will hold for us all. I hope you have a few parts of your year planned and have resolved to leave the rest up to chance, fate, and short-term impulses. As has become my tradition, I shall start the year with a few […]

It’s all about energy, again

The Financial Times reports that Bush will make energy a central theme of his State of the Union speech. The Bushies are consciously hyping it: Al Hubbard, chairman of the National Economic Council, who is co-ordinating White House energy policy, has also raised expectations. In a speech at De Pauw University he predicted "headlines above […]

Wal-Mart pushes CFLs

Wal-Mart has has started a new campaign to push compact fluorescent light bulbs in their massive retail stores, according to an article published in the New York Times yesterday. Though only a reported 6 percent of homes use CFLs currently, Wal-Mart hopes to sell 100 million of the bulbs each year by 2008. “The environment […]

There’s Always the Phone

Norway launches carbon-offset program for officials flying abroad World leaders like to kick off the year with stirring energy-related pronouncements (see: “addicted to oil”). But this New Year’s Day, in a speech peppered with grand statements, Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg made a concrete pledge: the country will begin buying credits to offset the greenhouse-gas […]

It’s All Sarovar

After years of controversy, India completes massive dam project One of the world’s longest-running social and environmental campaigns is sleeping with the fishes as of Sunday, when the last bucket of concrete was poured on the Sardar Sarovar Dam in the Indian state of Gujarat. The project, initiated nearly 20 years ago, diverts India’s fifth-largest […]