Latest Articles

Mo’ trash

Speaking of trash, Joel Makower has a nice round-up of developments in the turning-waste-into-energy field. Turns out there is such a field, and it's busy as a bee.

Detroit in the rearview mirror

When Scott Kirsner visited General Motors, he found its executives dismissive of Japanese automakers' focus on hybrids.  GM vice chairman of product development Bob Lutz said the decision not to make a hybrid "was a mistake from one aspect, and that's public relations and catering to the environmental movement."

GM believes that hybrids are but a temporary stepping stone on the road to a bright, shiny, World's Fair-esque future of hydrogen-powered cars. Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda get farther and farther ahead in the hybrid market.

Kirsner thinks Detroit is making a mistake, and makes a good case in Salon.com.

An excerpt from The War Against the Greens takes a hard look at the Wise Use movement

In 1988, the Wise Use movement was founded out of fear that George Bush Sr. was going to live up to his campaign pledge to be "the environmental president." This cabal of anti-environmental activists, organized by federally subsidized industries dependent on public lands, issued a natal document, the Wise Use Agenda. It called for, among other things: drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, logging Alaska's Tongass National Forest, opening wilderness to energy development, gutting the Endangered Species Act, and privatizing national parks. Today, the reactionary Wise Use Agenda has become the environmental policy of the administration of George Bush Jr.

Talking trash

Interesting post from occasional Gristmill contributor Alan Durning over on Cascadia Scorecard, about who's responsible for trash. You probably assume "local government," but it turns out there are more eco-friendly alternatives, percolating in British Columbia.

Roundtrippin’ from local to global

Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai isn't just sticking to the local environment, development, and security struggles that earned her the 2004 award. Dr. Maathai, the Kenyan environmental activist and deputy environment minister, recently called on African governments to be more aggressive in addressing climate change. She argued for presenting the climate change challenge in "simple terms" with "simple solutions" such as planting trees.  Read more on BBC.

Hydrogen at what cost?

Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel, but it's difficult to make in quantity. What if we could make "the equivalent of 200,000 gallons of gasoline each day" in hydrogen with a single processing plant? That would be great, eh? What if we had to do it with nuclear power?

Tough call. Green Car Congress has a mind-bendingly technical write-up of the process, if you're interested in the nuts and bolts.

Could enviros embrace nuclear to get this much clean energy? What do you think?

Charismatic carnivores

Tom Engelhardt profiles and presents an essay by Chip Ward, author of Hope's Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land. It's about "charismatic carnivores," the big animals that eat us and that we are slowly and haltingly coming to love -- or at least coexist with in a reasonably non-savage manner. It's good reading.

Hyper Activism

Software company Hyperion offers employees money for fuel-efficient cars California software company Hyperion is getting quite a bit of positive press for offering its employees $5,000 toward the purchase of a fuel-efficient car, and we’re happy to jump on the bandwagon. The grant is available to any of Hyperion’s 2,600 employees who have worked at […]

Cap’n Crunchy

Earthships offer a model for green housing of the future Looking to build an eco-friendly dwelling? An “earthship” could be just the ticket, says Mike Reynolds. Inexpensive to construct and even less expensive to run, these houses are built into hillsides, utilizing passive solar design and the thermal properties of the earth to provide natural […]

GMOy Vey

Battle over GM crops rages on in Europe Europe’s ambivalence over genetically modified crops continues to lead to outbreaks of conflict and recrimination. The latest flurry involves a European Union vote on whether to approve a breed of GM corn made by biotech giant Monsanto. Eight countries voted to approve, 12 voted to deny, and […]