Latest Articles

New journal focuses cross-disciplinary work on sustainability.

I have a soft spot for titles that include the kitchen sink and lack what we'll call concision. It comes from regular attempts to bring together strange bedfellows with our Environmental Change and Security Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

So I was heartened and not put off when I received notice of a new open source ejournal Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy.  As explained in an inaugural editorial by journal advisor and renowned biologist E. O. Wilson, "[t]he goal of the publication -- to establish a forum for cross-disciplinary discussion of natural and social sciences, practices, and policies related to sustainability -- is an important step toward creating achievable sustainable practices through buy-in and consensus."

Such forums at the science -policy interface are too few and far between.  This one promises to have a chance to make a difference, even if reading the inaugural issue suggests it will err on the scholarly side of readability.  The journal's private and public backers, CSA, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), and Conservation International (CI), bring some diverse ends and means to the table.  

Some not-entirely-coherent thoughts on nuclear power.

I've been pondering the question of nuclear power, about which there is, as Gristmill readers well know, impassioned debate. Here are some random, rambling thoughts:

Authors seeking tips for new book on toxics and children’s illness.

Over at Sheldon Rampton's blog on PRWatch, there's a plea from former New York Times reporter Philip Shabecoff and community development advocate Alice Shabecoff for leads for their upcoming book on "the links between environmental toxicants and the epidemic of children's chronic illnesses in the United States today."

In an effort to follow the money trail, they've got a list of questions regarding who's paying whom and who's fronting for whom, so send them an e-mail if you know what's what.

Sen. Orrin Hatch takes a swing at reasonable energy policy.

Mike at Green Car Congress brings news that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has re-introduced the CLEAR (Clean Efficient Automobiles Resulting from Advanced Car Technologies) Act, a package primarily composed of tax credits and incentives designed to encourage purchase of cleaner cars. Mike's got the details.

(Mike -- like the Worldchangers -- has made the unfortunate web design decision to present long excerpted quotes in italics, which makes them substantially harder to read. Just say no to squinting, fellas.)

Overwhelming Scientific Consensus Grows Overwhelminger

Climate really changing, oceans reveal to researchers Hey, did you know that the globe is warming? Really and for true! A new study by researchers at NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Columbia University, published in the journal Science this week, concludes that global warming is real. Really. Lead scientist James Hansen calls the […]

Johnson Scores

Senate confirms Johnson to head EPA Scientist and career agency veteran Stephen Johnson is the new head of the U.S. EPA. After a confirmation process that was oddly turbulent given the mild-mannered bureaucrat’s generally warm reception on both sides of the aisle, the Senate voted 61-37 just after midnight last night to approve a cloture […]

There Is a Lord God

Woodpecker thought extinct rediscovered; birders weep like babies It was spotted several times — once even filmed — over the past year and a half. Now, ornithologists writing in the journal Science have officially confirmed the existence of at least one ivory-billed woodpecker, a miraculously tangible token of a species long thought extinct. The discovery […]

More on Bush’s energy policy speech

Matt points to an interesting analysis of Bush's energy speech from last night, by Michael O'Hare. I'm not sure I agree with every detail, but it's hard to argue with the conclusion:

The energy policy of the Bush administration is to assure that its political base, namely the firms who know how to make money selling the fossil fuels we mostly use now, can go on doing so as long as possible. The political policy of the administration is to spend just enough nickels and dimes on real and fake alternatives to oil and coal to hide the policy. The implementation of these politics is an insult to citizens. And both the politics and the policy constitute an injury to future generations.

Readers talk back about art, our climate quiz, and how much they adore us

  Re: Imagine That Dear Editor: “Where are the books? The poems? The plays? The goddamn operas?” Bill McKibben is asking the right question, but looking in all the wrong places. The concern for subjects such as global warming and peak oil is not reflected in the corporate media or in corporate-funded arts institutions. McKibben […]

Cloture invoked.

Early today, the Senate voted 61-37 for cloture and confirmed Stephen Johnson as head of the U.S. EPA.