Latest Articles
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Will Evolution Be Next?
Heat waves linked to climate change; even Pat Robertson is convinced Experts agree: damn, it’s hot! And you might as well get used to it. At the rate global temperatures are rising, blistering heat waves like the ones that have recently baked parts of the U.S. and Europe will become more frequent and severe, according […]
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YouTube faux-amateur slander from the halls of DCI
An unspeakably stupid video about Al Gore and penguins has been floating around YouTube for a while. Over at The Wall Street Journal, Antonio Regalado and Dionne Searcey pulled off a crackerjack bit of reporting, tracing the author to an email address, an email address to an IP address, and ...
... the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.
You don't say.
DCI runs Tech Central Station, the notoriously bought and paid for opinion outlet. ("TCS is supported by a small group of sponsors: the American Beverage Association, ExxonMobil, Freddie Mac, General Motors Corporation, Gilead Sciences, McDonalds, Merck and PhRMA.")
Somebody's paying for adolescent, faux-amateur, "viral" smears. Wonder who?
Video below the fold:
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Peak oil and politics
Last week the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran part one of a two-part series on how Cuba survived without oil after the fall of the Soviet Union. (Not technically true -- there was oil, just far too little of it.) The next part runs this Sunday and has to do with the redefinition of Cuban medicine in the post-oil world. It's all very fascinating, and it's produced by one of our national treasures, David Suzuki.
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Federal judge rips EPA a new one
Over on E&E News (paid subscription only), Darren Samuelsohn reports that a federal judge has applied his boot to the derriere of the U.S. EPA:
A federal judge lashed out at U.S. EPA yesterday for pursuing industry-friendly regulations at the same time it missed statutory deadlines to control toxic air pollution from small industrial plants.
Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia criticized EPA for focusing on other priorities as opposed to issuing regulations that address about a third of toxic air pollution.
"EPA has been grossly delinquent in making serious efforts to comply" with the Clean Air Act, Friedman said in his 28-page opinion (PDF).And he put some oomph behind it:
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Rifkin’s in my head
Wow, this is a fantastic interview with Jeremy Rifkin. I was only peripherally aware of the guy, but damn, he's mirroring my entire worldview (no wonder I like it!). He's got the exact right idea, about sequestration and clean coal, about nuclear, about distributed generation, smart grids, you name it. I kept highlighting parts to excerpt, but I ended up highlighting the whole thing. Here's a bit:
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In coal country, mining is destroying cemeteries and faith
James Bowe, a lifelong resident of Whitesville, W.Va., knows the mountains around his home better than he knows himself. He’s seen friends and family buried there, and has devoted countless hours to protecting his loved ones’ resting places and the Indian burial grounds that stand alongside them. So when Bowe pulled up on his four-wheeler […]
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Mooney and Nisbet on reporters, hurricanes, and climate change
Chris Mooney and Matthew C. Nisbet have a long, careful piece in Skeptical Inquirer about journalistic coverage of the global warming/hurricane link. It's the best overview of that subject I've seen, and if you're interested in the intricacies I highly recommend you give it a read.
For the lazy among you, here's the nut:
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Eating well is cheap! And fun!
Has anyone seen Wal-Mart's new commercial? I caught it -- full of happy children smearing themselves with organic food -- the other night. Apparently it started airing a few weeks ago, and is the first part of a multi-million-dollar campaign. According to Ad Week, it's the company's first ad campaign to focus on food. Related print ads will launch this month in several publications.
I have to admit, the tagline "organic food at Wal-Mart prices" sounds appetizing to me (and my wallet), even though I know all the reasons it shouldn't. Wonder how it'll work on everyone else?
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It may be time to slow this trend! To the ramparts!
NYT commentator Bob Herbert, sitting on one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the media world, writes a column on global warming and manages to say ... nothing.
To get the flavor, check this out:
