Latest Articles

The energy bill is alive — alive! — and that could be bad news for ANWR

A day after winning the presidential election last week, George W. Bush made this now-legendary — and, to some, menacing — statement: “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” Without dwelling on the notion that conservatives are supposed to protect and grow capital, not fritter it away, […]

Pandas versus people?

In the current issue of World Watch Magazine, Mac Chapin throws down the gauntlet to the biggest of the bigs in the conservation world -- The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and the World Wildlife Fund. This piece is bound to stir up a heated debate about conservation organizations taking private sector and government funding and about how they are using it. The abstract reads:

As corporate and government money flow into the big three international organizations that dominate the world's conservation agenda, their programs have been marked by growing conflicts of interest--and by a disturbing neglect of the indigenous people whose land they are in the business to protect.

Terry on, My Wayward Son

Schwarzenegger promotes environmental advocate to Cabinet secretary California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will elevate self-described tree hugger Terry Tamminen from his current position as environmental protection secretary to the more powerful position of Cabinet secretary, where he’ll serve as a liaison between the governor and department and agency heads. While Tamminen made decisions opposed at […]

Fat Accompli

Overweight passengers lead to higher airplane CO2 emissions Everybody knows the U.S. is in the grips of an obesity epidemic. And many folks know that airplanes are major sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which exacerbates global warming. But did you know that the former is contributing in a significant way to the latter? Neither did […]

Where There’s Heat, There’s Fire

Massive forest fires may be caused by global warming The massive forest fires that have ravaged the American West in recent years may be caused by global warming, according to a new study in the journal Nature. The Bush administration has argued that the fires are unnatural, caused by overgrown forest ground cover, and more […]

See You Later, Regulator

Bush victory portends big and enduring changes in environmental regs U.S. EPA chief Mike Leavitt is touting last week’s election as “a validation of our philosophy and agenda,” and his agency and others that oversee environmental matters are expected to move aggressively to relax mandatory regulatory limits in favor of market-based systems and voluntary targets. […]

Ray Anderson, sustainable biz pioneer, answers questions

What work do you do? I am founder and chair of Interface, Inc. How does it relate to the environment? I used to think that my job didn’t have anything to do with the environment. Then I realized that my job, as well as everyone else’s job, impacts the environment in some way. And now […]

Advantages of Bike Commuting

Rhymes with “ditty” too

The radio program "Living On Earth" had some hack from the Wall Street Journal editorial page on, along with Grist contributor Bill McKibben, to discuss what Bush's victory means for the environment.  It's interesting (and like Shalini, what I mean by interesting is "makes me reach for a noose").  You can read the transcript here.

Four more years of rhymes with “yell”

Interesting (and by interesting, I mean depressing) article in Salon on what the Bush victory may mean for the environment and for enviros.