Latest Articles

A Hug’s Life

Survey reveals truth to tree-hugging Californian stereotype It is often said that Californians are unfairly stereotyped as bleeding-heart tree huggers. Turns out it’s not true. The “unfairly” part, that is. A new survey reveals that more than 60 percent of Californians really have hugged trees, some 24 percent have surfed, and 21 percent think mud […]

Announcing: Business as Usual

Plan for Colorado River to aid wildlife, preserve intensive water use Federal water managers this week joined the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada in trumpeting a new 50-year plan to aid native wildlife along parts of a 400-mile stretch of the Colorado River from Lake Mead to the Mexican border. Prompted by a 1997 […]

The Shipping Spews

Shipping line agrees to pay $25 million for illegal oil dumping Evergreen International, one of the world’s largest shipping lines, agreed Monday to pay a $25 million fine after pleading guilty to 24 felony charges and one misdemeanor involving secretly dumping oil off the coasts of five U.S. states and purposefully lying to U.S. Coast […]

Canadian Breakin’

Automakers sign emissions deal with Canada, say nyah-nyah to Cali Major automakers signed a deal with the Canadian government yesterday that will have them voluntarily reduce their fleets’ greenhouse-gas emissions by roughly 25 percent by 2010. Though it takes the heat off them in Canada, where mandatory federal regulations had been threatened, it puts automakers […]

Dems and Republicans buy different kinds of cars; guess who likes big American SUVs?

You could probably guess that Prius drivers tend to be Democrats and Hummer drivers tend to be Republicans. But that's just the tip of the iceberg on car-and-driver political connections, writes John Tierney in The New York Times, summarizing new market research that I find both fascinating and hilarious.  

Jaguars, Land Rovers, and Jeep Grand Cherokees are very "Republican" vehicles. Volvos are the most "Democratic" cars, followed by Subarus and Hyundais. (Funny comment from Slate columnist Mickey Kaus: "Subaru is the new Volvo --that is, it is what Volvos used to be: trusty, rugged, inexpensive, unpretentious, performs well, maybe a bit ugly. You don't buy it because you want to show you have money; you buy it because you have college-professor values.")

Photos of Iceland reveal a land of extremes

Photos: © Layne Kennedy In case you haven’t heard, we’re giving away a trip to Iceland. As a result, this photo essay is a bit of a divergence from our usual tough-as-nails coverage, wherein the prettiest pictures we run are of, well, politicians. But we’re not just shilling here — Iceland is a hotbed of […]

An interview with New York Times columnist and “geo-green” advocate Thomas Friedman

Thomas Friedman.Photo: Greg MartinAs the green movement fends off accusations of impotence, Thomas Friedman has hatched an idea that could make a man out of environmentalism. In January, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times debuted his “geo-green” strategy, a powerful proposal for reframing America’s quest for energy independence to appeal to […]

Diamonds Are Forever

Swiss glacier to be wrapped up, saved for later A Swiss ski resort worried about global warming’s ill effects on its future is taking matters into its own mittened hands. At the ski season’s end in May, the Andermatt resort will cover some 32,200 square feet of the Gurschen glacier with an insulating PVC foam […]

Hunting Irony

Alaskan wolves, bears hunted for hunting what the hunters want to hunt These are not the best of times for Alaska’s wolves and bears. A well-studied family of wolves in Denali National Park recently lost two senior females when they wandered outside park borders and were killed by trappers; a similar fate may befall the […]

Better Dead Than Sissy

Declining fuel efficiency of military vehicles puts troops in harm’s way In decades past, fuel comprised about 30 percent of the total supply tonnage moved to and fro on the battlefield. Today, according to a 2001 Defense Science Board study, that number may have risen as high as an astonishing 70 percent. America’s 150,000 soldiers […]