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Words Fail Us

Hummer propaganda aimed at kids through McDonald’s Happy Meals Sometimes a story comes along that so perfectly captures a culture’s pathologies that it should be put in a time capsule, so future generations … oh, right, there won’t be any future generations. It seems that, according to fast-food behemoth McDonald’s, this is a “Hummer of […]

Economies of Bale

Straw-bale construction a little less marginalized Straw-bale construction has slowly been catching on in the green-building set, but its positive performance in recent fire, durability, and eco-friendliness tests could take it to the next level. The latest was an independent fire-resistance test, which proved that the material lives up to industry standards when it’s covered […]

So Much For “Beyond Petroleum”

BP pipeline fubar fallout continues Oil giant BP is weathering a ginormous poopstorm over its discovery of severe corrosion in an Alaskan oil pipeline and subsequent announcement that it would shut down its entire Prudhoe Bay oil field — 8 percent of total U.S. production — while it repaired the damage, which could take until […]

Kerry op-ed on global warming

Presidential hopeful (though, as my granddad used to say, you can hope in one hand and pee in the other and see which one fills up first) John Kerry has an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle today, full of his usual baroque, mildly dolorous phrasing (he always sounds like he's imitating JFK, but the flop sweat shows, even in print). It's about climate change, how Bush sucks on it, and what we need to do about it. It's basically a capsule version of the longer energy speech he gave earlier this year.

Michigan 7th

With all the Liebermania, another primary went under the radar, but it's an interesting one for greens.

Rep. Joe Schwarz, a moderate Michigan Republican, lost a primary challenge to far-right bomb-thrower Tim Walberg, who -- backed by out-of-state money from the right-wing Club for Growth -- bashed Schwarz for his sane heretical views on abortion and stem-cell research. (Schwarz is an old-school fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican.)

So in November, Walberg will face off against Sharon Renier, an organic farmer, musician, and long-time enviro:

Does a gallon of ethanol really require five gallons of water?

"1,000 gallons a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

No, that's not an Exxon exec's fantasy CAFE standard. It's how much water will be required by an ethanol plant slated to open in Pennsylvania's coal country, according to this report.

My calculator informs me that "1,000 gallons a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week" amounts to about 526 million gallons of water per year. The above-linked article claims that the Pennsylvania plant will produce 100 million gallons of ethanol annually. That means it takes about five and a quarter gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol -- and that doesn't account for irrigation water for corn production.

Fascinating.

Blair’s rigged energy review

Remember the comprehensive energy review (PDF) done by Tony Blair's UK government about a month ago? The one that concluded that nuclear power is peachy, which coincidentally was a position Blair had been propounding for months beforehand?

Well, check this out:

More on Lieberman stuff

Last night I wrote about Lieberman's loss, the growing split between interest-group-based "checklist liberalism" and progressive movement-building, and the implications of both for environmentalists.

Today, Garance Franke-Ruta adds some thoughts:

What the West’s only communist nation has done right

Reports that Fidel Castro turned over power to his brother Raul last week because of surgery for intestinal bleeding have brought a flashback to the Cold War, with reporters rushing to doodle prematurely on his grave and interview the vociferous hard-right Miami expat constituency that has helped dictate U.S.-Cuba policy for the last 47 years. […]

Umbra on eco-friendly tents

Hi Umbra, When I posted this question locally, I started a brouhaha about owning a car. Hopefully you can answer more succinctly — any suggestions for a tent made out of reasonably friendly materials? Alex BernardinSan Francisco, Calif. Dearest Alex, There’s plenty to say about friendly tents, and nary a brouhaha in sight. Since I’m […]