Latest Articles

Foreign assistance should include environmental and climate change issues

One of these days, we may diversify our "whack a mole" approach to security. A critical step on the road to a more dynamic strategy is recognizing underlying causes of instability in the developing world.

This week's Economist has a special report on the Horn of Africa that highlights the severe demographic, environmental, and agricultural challenges that undercut stability and exacerbate all manner of tribal, religious, economic, and political divisions. While the language is at times overheated, the dire situation perhaps warrants "the shock them out of their stupor" approach to reporting.

While demand for frozen food booms, processing plants head to China and Mexico

Farmers markets may be fashionable, but the U.S. appetite for convenience food remains insatiable. "Retail sales of frozen foods in the U.S. in 2005 reached a record $29 billion, up from nearly $26 billion in 2001," declares a news report.

Meanwhile, the U.S. food-processing giants are shuttering domestic plants and heading to Mexico and China, where labor and produce costs are cheaper than California's central coast, once the U.S. frozen food capital.

In an age of broad energy and climate uncertainty, market forces are conspiring to make our food system ever more energy intensive. How can this be? How can it make economic sense to not only haul food from China and Mexico, but to keep its temperature below the freezing point throughout the process?

Poll: Do you trust Wal-Mart?

According to these comments and the letters to the editor, there seems to be a bunch of you who don't believe Wal-Mart is actually going to implement their sustainability plans. I think it is time for a Friday poll! (Vote below the fold.)

From Hova to Happy Meals

H to the two oh Shawn Carter Jigga Hova Jay-Z’s got 99 problems, and clean water is one. “Every 15 seconds a child dies from not having access to clean water,” said the hip-hop mogul, who has teamed up with the U.N. and MTV to raise awareness about the world’s water crisis. “I want people […]

Tim Flannery on Big Picture TV

I don't know how they do it, but Big Picture TV has added author and Australian scientist Tim Flannery to their impressive list of talking heads. Tim Flannery wrote The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means For Life on Earth which was reviewed by Grist back in March.

In this four-part series, Flannery chats about the carbon debt, action for solutions, the end of denial, and taxing carbon.

Gun in 60 Seconds

China to protect rare animals by killing them How do you say “cognitive dissonance” in Chinese? This Sunday, Chinese officials will be auctioning off licenses to kill rare wildlife — including some endangered species — to raise funds for … wildlife conservation. Due to the country’s gun laws, only foreigners can bid for permits at […]

Yukon Fool Some of the People Some of the Time

GM builds world’s first LEED-certified auto plant, slows SUV production If BP went Beyond Petroleum, does that mean GM is Greening Motors? The struggling U.S. automaker recently unveiled two nuggets of eco-friendly news. Its brand-spankin’ new Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan received the U.S. Green Building Council’s gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and […]

Party at Jim’s House!

Idaho governor says no to coal, yes to whoopin’ it up Exhibiting the flair and confidence only a short-timer can afford, Idaho Gov. Jim Risch (R) has announced that the state don’t need no stinkin’ coal. Risch, who took office when Dirk Kempthorne resigned in May to head the Interior Department, will step down when […]

Sheet Happens … Faster

Greenland melting faster than five years ago, study says We hate to give you bad news without some good, so here goes. The bad news from a study published this week in Science is that, by comparing satellite data from 2002-2005 to earlier data, researchers have determined that Greenland’s ice sheet is melting about three […]

Fuel cells take a blow

Via Engineer-Poet, the European Fuel Cell Forum -- who you'd expect to be pro-fuel cell -- has dealt a major blow to the idea of fuel cell cars powered by hydrogen. Noting that hydrogen will, under any reasonable assumption, continue to be less efficient and more costly than electricity, the EFCF has decided to abandon the most prominent form of automotive fuel cell, the proton exchange membrane. They have not, however, abandoned fuel cells altogether: