Latest Articles

Katrina prompts new energy proposals — some green, most not

Hurricane Katrina has triggered a whirlwind of new energy proposals in Congress — some gratifying to environmental activists, most galling. The long-awaited energy bill that President Bush gleefully signed into law a mere month ago started looking sadly outdated when viewed against a backdrop of slackened oil production along the Gulf Coast, crippled refineries, gasoline […]

Quick on the Thaw

Melting Arctic sea ice may have hit point of no return, scientists fear Experts on the climate of the Arctic have been busy this summer altering their dire predictions for a globally warmed future — to make them even direr. According to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of […]

Gas Dismissed

Federal judge throws out multistate suit against CO2-spewing utilities A U.S. federal judge yesterday delivered a big blow to eight states that had been pushing for power plants to cut their carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to stave off global warming. A coalition of the states plus New York City had filed suit against […]

Hurricane You Hear Me Now?

Warming oceans linked to increase in powerful hurricanes and storms Severe hurricanes and cyclones have become more common worldwide as ocean temperatures have increased, according to a study published today in the journal Science. Georgia Tech climatologist Judith Curry and colleagues studied satellite data from the past 35 years as well as computer models before […]

Uh …

[Former FEMA Director Mike] Brown told the Times that he had such difficulty dealing with [Louisiana Governor Kathleen] Blanco that he communicated with her husband instead.

Pollsters aren’t asking the right questions about energy issues

There's more to this article than the headline, but the headline alone says quite a bit: "Poll: 8 in 10 want drivers to drop SUVs." That's another tentative -- though possibly shallow -- sign that high gas prices are turning Americans against their gas guzzlers. Of course, since SUVs, trucks, and minivans have commanded roughly half of the new-vehicle market in recent years, one wonders if this means that 3 in 10 people want other drivers to drop their low-mileage vehicles.

Other poll responses are equally telling. Seven out of 10 respondents want the government to fight rising gasoline bills by establishing price controls. Of course, holding down prices makes us consume more gas than we otherwise would. Plus, in a world of limited petroleum supplies, price controls could lead to all sorts of other problems -- shortages, rationing, etc. (As The Washington Post's Robert Samuelson reminds us, Cheap Gas Is a Bad Habit.)

Seven out of 10 also support new government spending on transit. But almost six in 10 now think it's more important to explore for new sources of energy than to protect the environment; and five in 10 favor opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development, up from just 42 percent earlier in the year.

Are smoking bans fair?

Well, I'd subject you to more TV updates, but I actually went out last night and had a life. Which involved being in a smoke-filled bar for several hours. Which got me to thinking ... yuck.

Seattle's one of the country's healthiest cities, yet it's only just now getting around to considering a smoking-ban referendum. If the effort passes, Seattle will join the growing list of cities (Boston, Minneapolis), states (California, Delaware), and even countries (Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden) that have put butts under wraps.

This public-health progress has come despite agitated protests on business, political, and personal grounds. I have to admit, I didn't have strong feelings about such bans until I lived (pre-Seattle) in a city that instituted one. And then I realized: breathing? It's a good thing.

Upload your very own enviro-themed videos

Do you blog? Podcast? Post your homemade music or videos on the web? If so, you belong to "Generation C" as coined by the folks at Trendwatching.com who define this group like so:

No, this is not about a new niche generation of youngsters born between March 12, 1988, and April 24, 1993; the C stands for CONTENT, and anyone with even a tiny amount of creative talent can (and probably will) be part of this not-so-exclusive trend.

So what is it all about? The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the avalanche of consumer generated "content" that is building on the web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio, and video on an ongoing basis.

The two main drivers fueling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We're all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity using, of course, their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.

For perspectives on Generation C, check out WorldChanging and FutureWise.

Now, to all you enviros who are members of Generation C, wouldn't it be cool if your environmentally themed short films actually appeared on television? Sound too good to be true? Then check out Current TV.

And, according to Wired, this fledgling cable channel needs your help. Nay, your videos.

EPA loophole could allow pesticide testing on kids

Just take a look at this San Francisco Chronicle headline:

EPA rule loopholes allow pesticide testing on kids

That's right -- if this story is to be believed, the EPA has created a loophole that would allow the pesticide industry to test whether its wares are safe by using real, live kids.  

But astonishingly, the real story is actually even uglier than that. According to the Chronicle, the EPA rules -- allegedly designed to protect kids and pregnant women -- specifically allow testing on "children who have been abused and neglected." Just read:

[W]ithin the 30 pages of rules are clear-cut exceptions that permit:

-- Testing of "abused or neglected" children without permission from parents or guardians.

-- "Ethically deficient" human research if it is considered crucial to "protect public health."

-- More than minimal health risk to a subject if there is a "direct benefit" to the child being tested, and the parents or guardians agree.

Read the story -- I'm not making this up.

What New Orleans could look like the second time around

I heard that George Bush told New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin the city could be remade into “a shining example for the whole world.” If Bush did say that, it surely wasn’t an environmentally sound renaissance he had in mind. But that is precisely what is needed. Call it Eco New Orleans. It should encompass […]