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Buenos Hot Aires

U.S. professes bafflement at international ire over climate change “I’m not sure why we’re considered the ‘bad boys’,” said puzzled U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson at this week’s U.N. climate change convention in Buenos Aires. The conference — the last such meeting to take place before the Kyoto Protocol goes into effect in February — […]

Umbra on Christmas trees

Dear Umbra, Please settle our office dispute. Which is better for the environment: real or fake Christmas trees? Some believe that cutting down juvenile trees, displaying them for two weeks, then throwing them in the garbage is destructive, wasteful, and highly unfriendly to the environment. Others say that the Christmas-tree business keeps land that would […]

The people on top of our oil

It was published the day before the election, so it didn't get the attention it should have, but it's worth your time to go back and read Daniel Glick's piece in Salon about Bush's renewed push to drill in Alaska's Northeast National Petroleum Reserve and the threat it poses to the Eskimo way of life. NPR-A is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's less-celebrated cousin, but at 23.5 million acres, it's the largest chunk of public land in the U.S. It's worth some attention, and so is the life the Eskimos there have lived for hundreds of years.

Fond O’ Honda

Honda ranked as greenest automaker Of the six largest automakers selling vehicles in the U.S., Honda is the greenest, according to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Emissions from Honda’s 2003 vehicles amounted to less than half the industry average. Nissan, which ranked second, was the most improved in reducing emissions of […]

Put It in Neutral

HSBC pledges carbon neutrality U.K.-based banking company HSBC has announced a management plan aimed at reaching carbon neutrality by 2006. With 10,000 banks in 76 countries, HSBC estimates it will cost up to $7 million to account for the more than 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide the company adds to the atmosphere every year via […]

Energy Bill

Clinton says clean-energy backers should quit whining and get to work Former President Bill Clinton yesterday said that energy issues, with their links to national security and environmental decline, “may have a bigger impact on America and the world than virtually all the things that were debated” in the run-up to the recent election. At […]

Seeking dough from the breadbasket of America

Congrats to the newly-greened states of Massachusetts, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Idaho, and the District of Columbia!

To the rest of you out there: Get cracking! Connecticut, Maryland, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, you only need one more vote, so make it happen.

And here's a shout-out to the breadbasket of America: Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, you put the heart in heartland -- now show everyone you heart Grist by donating now!

And if you're donating from outside the U.S., make your provisional donation where it's needed most -- Mississippi and South Carolina still have goose eggs in the Donations column, and Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas still need at least 10 votes to go green. Where is the love?

Our fundraising appeal is half over, and we're at nearly half our goal, but we're trying to raise $50,000 here, people! So, if you're from a state that's already green, keep giving.

We don't want to guilt you into giving us your green -- ok, yes we do -- but all of Grist's award-winning content is delivered to your inbox completely free of charge! That's right; no annoying registration pages, no pop-up ads, and no annual fee. Want to keep it that way? We thought so.

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Behind the Filipino floods

Want to get smart in a hurry on the environment in the Philippines, where illegal and legal logging are widely blamed for last week's devastating flooding? Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based NGO, has just published a short primer on environment, demographic, and health conditions there. The brief presents a good overview, and it also provides specific suggestions for integrated population-health-conservation programs.

Stay tuned to the PRB website for further info on these issues in the Philippines. Their population-environment team -- headed by Roger-Mark De Souza -- has just returned from working with the first Filipino national conference on population, health and environment (PHE), attended by more than 250 officials, experts, donors, and media (including a representative from the President's Office) that resulted in a National PHE Declaration signed by congressional staff and mayors.

Green building resources

For those interested or involved in green building, two important websites: Ecospecifier and the Green Matrix, both portals with tons of information on green building techniques, materials, and resources.

(Via Treehugger and EnviroPundit.)

Left and love

We would be remiss if we did not point out that our intrepid editor Kathryn Schulz has a forceful, eloquent, and quite beautiful meditation on love and politics running in The Nation.  Go ye and read it.