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Stuck in neutral

According to The Washington Post, U.S. fuel economy is stuck in neutral: despite high gas prices, vehicle fuel economy hasn't improved a whit compared with the previous year.

But wait, it gets worse.

Love the earth? Die.

The TerraPass blog points to a new study out from U. Penn professor Karl Ulrich called "The Environmental Paradox of Biking" (PDF). The rather jarring conclusion is that switching people over from cars to bicycles has, at present, no net environmental benefit.

"Wha ...?!" you say.

Well, here's the thing. Just by being alive, you're sucking up resources. In particular, lots and lots of fossil fuels are required to transport food to you. If you stop driving everywhere and bike instead, you'll live longer. So you'll suck up more resources. So it's a wash.

If you really love the environment, you'll drive your car ... off a bridge.

Ouch.

She will rap the critics’ knuckles

You know a company is eager to improve its public image when it starts hiring nuns.

The Apollo creed

You can't swing a drowned polar bear without hitting a new report that says America needs a massive, Apollo-like program to rebuild its bloated, fossil-dependent industry into something more sustainable. The latest isn't about sustainability per se, but rather my nemesis, the dread "energy security." The Southern States Energy Board commissioned a report (PDF) charting America's survival in an age of precious oil, as the age of cheap oil passes.

The study's conclusions are about what you'd expect -- and exactly the problem with the whole energy security notion: Essentially, a military-industrial problem is identified and a military-industrial solution is proposed (coal-to-liquids, enhanced oil recovery, even oil shale for @$%#'s sake). There's a nod toward biomass, but no real effort at sustainability.

Companies that green their supply chains can find savings galore

How many light bulbs does it take to change a supply chain? In the case of Baxter Healthcare Corp., just three. When Jenni Cawein, manager of corporate environmental health and safety engineering at the Illinois-based $9.8 billion health-care giant, arrived six years ago, she saw that the company was losing ground on waste. “I asked […]

Lazy People Can Save the Planet

Use the dishwasher if you want to save water, U.K. study concludes We know your type: Your dirty dishes are piling up as you sit immobilized by the question of whether it’s more enviro-friendly to use the dishwasher or wash them by hand. But live in squalor no more — a study by U.K. nonprofit […]

Vegetarians Are Ruining the Planet

Cargill pushes soy farming that’s obliterating the Amazon Soy production has overtaken logging and cattle ranching as the main source of Amazon rainforest destruction. In the past three years, nearly 27,000 square miles of the Amazon have been destroyed, nearly three-quarters of it illegally. Much of the acreage was sold to soy producers, financed in […]

Unimpressive at Any Speed

Average fuel economy of U.S. vehicles no better than last year The average fuel economy of 2006 model-year vehicles in the U.S. is a guzzle-rific 21 miles per gallon, the U.S. EPA announced yesterday — the same as in 2005. (And 1994. And 1982.) SUV fuel economy rose from 18.3 to 18.5 mpg from model […]

Home Sweat Home

Heat wave leads to record power use in U.S. Many areas of the U.S. broke record highs for power use yesterday, as a coast-to-coast heat wave caused sweaty citizens to crank up the AC. Power grid operators are calling for conservation, and the utility industry is declaring a national need for more power plants and […]

SoyChlor plant

A reader wrote to ask me to draw attention to it -- it needs a national audience -- so here you go:

A SoyChlor plant in Jefferson, Iowa is alleged to damage property, kill plant and animal life, and make people and even children sick with hydrochloric acid.

You'll be shocked to hear that the plant has not yet faced any fines or repercussions.