Latest Articles

Fox to balance previous accuracy with inaccuracy

Late last year, Fox News baffled everyone by running a special on global warming that presented the science accurately. Fox's right-wing supporters were upset that the wrong other side wasn't represented. The world asked: WTF?

Well, the natural order will be re-established this Sunday evening with a Fox News special called, "Global Warming: The Debate Continues." From the show description:

Ford and CEI

By now everybody has seen, and mocked, the pro-CO2 ads from CEI. Many people have also noted that CEI is funded by industries with vested interests in the oily status quo.

As Andrew Leonard rather scathingly pointed out, Ford Motor Co. is one of those funders. The same Ford that's been trying so hard lately to be a good environmental citizen. The same Ford who recently forged a partnership with TerraPass to encourage its drivers to offset their emissions.

This proved slightly embarrassing to the folks at TerraPass. They contacted Niel Golightly, Ford's Director of Sustainable Business Strategies, to get some answers. Golightly sent them this response:

Gore-backed group will spend big to convince Americans climate change is real

Al Gore wants you to understand climate change. Photo: © 2006 Paramount Classics.  Think you’ve been hearing a lot about global warming lately? If a new climate-focused group hatched by Al Gore has its way, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. After nine months of behind-the-scenes planning and wrangling, the Alliance for Climate Protection is now […]

Wind and intermittency

A while back I raised the problem of intermittency -- the fact that solar and wind power depend on the sun shining and the wind blowing, neither of which happens continuously -- and asked if anybody knew about ways of storing energy generated during peak sun/wind and releasing it into the grid during lulls.

Ask, and ye shall receive: There's a piece in Spectrum called "Taking Wind Mainstream" that directly addresses the issue. It contains all sorts of stuff I didn't know and has me feeling downright optimistic.

It begins:

Canada opts for empty symbolism

It's official: Canada wants to join the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Climate Change. The APPCC, for those not familiar, is less a climate treaty (the term "non-binding" is the first clue) than another "free" trade treaty whereby North American nuclear and coal companies lock in developing-world markets.

By creating the APPCC "alternative," Bush has gone beyond neglecting Kyoto to actively pulling participants away from it.

Obama’s new book

It's not strictly environmental, but I thought readers would be interested to see this preview of Barack Obama's new book, The Audacity of Hope (available Oct. 2006). This should give you an idea of the theme:

CEI ad reviews

Tim Lambert rounds up some reviews of the pro-CO2 ads from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Funny.

Last chance to save South Central Farm

Via BoingBoing comes word that the South Central Farm -- probably the largest urban garden in the country, where 350 low-income families grow their own food -- will soon vanish if folks don't rally to save it. In its place will sit a massive Wal-Mart warehouse.

The farmers held off bulldozers by legal action, but the developer recently received approval from the court to evict them. The Trust for Public Land, a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that is working to save the farm, has until Monday, May 22, 2006, to raise approximately $10 million to purchase the land. They are part of the way there, but need several million more.

You can learn how to make a donation here.

We've discussed the farm previously on Gristmill here, here, and here.

Grain ethanol: wack

Robert Rapier has all your (grain) ethanol-bashing needs covered with this latest salvo:

From Bare Ass to Bono

Look at the set of issues on that chick! At a boring heads-of-state summit, a bikini-sporting beauty queen crashed a photo shoot, protesting a pulp mill planned for Uruguay. “It was one of the best things that has happened at this summit,” said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He added, “I didn’t see anything about pulp, […]