Latest Articles

Under the Macroscope

Protests, international conference focus on U.S. climate stubbornness How many delegates does it take to convince the U.S. to address climate change? No one knows, but the 5,000 gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the latest U.N. climate conference are giving it a shot. The two-week event opened today with remarks from Kenyan Vice President Moody […]

Share your green awakening

A good friend of mine has just turned green. But it wasn't The Great Warming or An Inconvenient Truth that did the trick, but Robert F. Kennedy's Crimes Against Nature.

I bring it up because this friend is well-read, intelligent, and politically liberal; he has certainly been exposed to all the same evidence that won other people over long ago. And yet until now, the only time the word "environmentalist" issued from his mouth was when he was teasing me about being one. RFK's book -- with its contrast of political and corporate greed on one hand and democracy-driven environmental stewardship on the other -- spoke my friend's language ... and now he won't shut up about tragedies against the commons and government-subsidized pollution.

Should we worry about sudden climate shifts?

We hear a lot about climate "tipping points" in the news. You may very well be wondering what a tipping point is and whether it's something to be concerned about.

To understand a tipping point, imagine that you're sitting in a canoe and you start to lean your body over one side. The canoe will slowly rotate (I think the nautical term is "list") as you lean ever further -- until, that is, you lean just far enough, and suddenly the canoe flips over, sending you into the water. You've just encountered a tipping point.

The worry is that the climate will slowly warm as CO2 is added -- until we cross a tipping point, at which point the climate abruptly shifts into a new and possibly very different state. If this happens, it would likely be a disaster of Biblical proportions, unleashing unimaginable suffering and hardship.

‘Antarctic ice is growing’–Well, probably not, but even if it were, we are not off the hook

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

Objection: The Antarctic ice sheets are actually growing, which wouldn't be happening if global warming were real.

Answer: There are two distinct problems with this argument.

First, any argument that tries to use a regional phenomenon to disprove a global trend is dead in the water. Anthropogenic global warming theory does not predict uniform warming throughout the globe. We need to assess the balance of the evidence.

Does biology work against religious sentiment?

Here's an excellent piece by John Derbyshire at National Review explaining his (lack of) religious views.

What does it have to do with environmentalism? Well, check out this part:

Umbra on window manufacturers

Dear Umbra, We are looking into replacing some of our windows. Any thoughts on which companies are more environmentally friendly, not just in the energy-efficiency of their windows, but in the manufacturing process (Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood, recycling materials, etc.)? Lyell Slade Concord, Mass. Dearest Lyell, Let’s warm up on this topic: Windows in residential […]

By quite a bit

Two new polls show Republicans suddenly and dramatically gaining on Democrats. What was looking like a Dem "wave" is now looking like yet another squeaker. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get some recounts and court battles!

Trim those carbon love handles

In a clever take-off on Biggest Loser (one of the saddest excuses for television programming I've seen yet), Slate.com recently announced its Green Challenge, an 8-week carbon diet that provides a steady menu of simple "action items," urging participants to curb their energy-gobbling ways.

As of 8am, November 3rd, the challenge has attracted 22,572 participants for a collective CO2 weight loss of 28,865,784 pounds.

Here's hoping that carbon dieters view this as a lifestyle change and don't -- like many regular dieters -- quickly regain all the lost weight and then some.

The ethical and environmental dilemma of coffee

On a baking hot summer night a few years ago, some friends and I took a walk through our Somerville neighborhood. The day had been so warm that heat was still rising from the pavement even at 10 pm. A man from Central America was out tending his garden under the pale light of the street lamp. As my friends asked him about his plants, I thought I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a coffee bush. I had never seen one in real life, only in photographs, but I knew right away what it was.

"Is that coffee?" I asked incredulously. "Yes," he said with a grin, and then showed me that he grows it in a huge tub. He takes the coffee bush indoors during the winter and devotes an entire room of his house to caring for his tropical plants. He controls the heat and humidity and runs a sun lamp all winter long. He said he picks and roasts all his own coffee, just as he had before coming to the U.S.

For most of us, however, coffee is a tropical product imported from far away -- and therein lies a dilemma. Since October was Fair Trade month, I decided to check out some of the local Fair Trade businesses to see what their take is on importing tropical products.

A month’s worth of beautiful and/or fascinating astronomy photos from NASA

For your Sunday time-wasting pleasure, last month's selections from Astronomy Picture of the Day: