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Brace yourself

Discover magazine deems Silent Spring the 16th greatest science book ever published. Brace yourself for a flood of misinformed invective from the "DDT rulez and enviros kill African babies" crowd (about whom Tim Lambert is the authoritative source).

Also of note is No. 25: Gaia, by James Lovelock, who has recently sold his soul to the nuclear lobby.

Cause it’s nasty

As the Japanese prepare to herd thousands of dolphins into coves and stab them with spears and bash them with clubs until the sea is bright red with blood, many groups, including environmentalists, are uniting to oppose the slaughter.

A nice old-fashioned polemic

Reader WH sent along a link to this CBC Fifth Estate documentary -- "The Denial Machine" -- about the scientists and industries working to obfuscate basic global warming science. You can watch the full hour on their site.

As far as I can tell, it's a full-on polemic. The Pielkes of the world will no doubt tsk-tsk, lament the lack of proper qualifications and hedges, and scold it for being shrill. But I say: more polemic, please.

Hopefully tenacious butt kicking will ensue

Eliot Spitzer's eco-lieutenant to be made executive director of NRDC:

Rubber Ducky, You’re Not the One

San Francisco set to enact first-in-nation ban on toxics in baby toys Next week, San Francisco will become the first U.S. city to ban the manufacture, distribution, and sale of baby toys containing chemicals linked to cancer and developmental delays. The prime targets — bisphenol A and phthalates — have been found in everything from […]

Flipping the Bird

Experts say risk of a bird-flu pandemic has lessened The world is safe from a bird-flu pandemic. Maybe. Last week, researchers said they’d isolated the mutations that could turn the virus into a human-to-human juggernaut, while another team unveiled an “MChip” test that identifies the distinctive flu strain, which has caused 153 human deaths since […]

The End Is Sigh

U.N. conference ends with little progress on climate action In a monstrous anticlimax, the U.N. climate summit in Nairobi, Kenya, ended with a decision to … review the Kyoto Protocol in 2008. “From Christian Aid’s point of view that’s simply not good enough, and we need some heads to be knocked together by somebody,” said […]

No need to serve gussied-up Coors with so many real craft beers available

First bit of Thanksgiving advice: Prepare to be bombarded by bits of Thanksgiving advice.

Second bit: When you're choosing beer for the holiday table, don't get hoodwinked into buying tarted-up swill from a corporate brewer.

For those concerned about the blogger’s floor

So, last Friday and this whole weekend, I've been moving. Moving with two small kids is so fun! I wish I could do it every week! [Beats head on desk.]

Anyway, it reminded me that a while back I wrote a post soliciting flooring advice. I thought I'd do a quick follow-up for the vanishingly small number of you who care.

So we can transition to renewables without cost

You are going to see me posting a lot about ways we can increase efficiency -- for example, CyberTran and electric cars.

If you transition to carbon-free sources of energy without adding efficiency, energy as percentage of total GDP increases -- carbon-free sources of energy still cost (on average) more than carbon-emitting ones. This leaves less for everything else (food, clothing, shelter, medical care).

Sufficient efficiency improvements let us phase in non-fossil-fuel sources at no net cost. If we increase GDP per unit of energy, we can pay more for that energy.

To paraphrase Amory Lovins: We don't burn fuel for its own sake; we want warm toes and cold beer.

In homes, for example, if efficient use of power can still run appliances and provide heat and light, we sacrifice nothing and save money. That money will pay for more expensive clean energy. The price per kWh will be higher, but the electricity bill will be the same.

Even at high prices, the potential of renewable energy is great -- more than we are likely to need this century. Still, efficiency would let us take advantage of costlier sources without economic damage.