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Credit Where Credit is Overdue

Congress renews wind-energy tax credit for a year A popular tax credit for companies generating wind energy will likely live on through 2005. Renewal of the wind-energy production tax credit was included in the monstrous Bush administration energy bill, but that bill is, to enviros’ great relief, currently stuck in legislative limbo. However, lawmakers inserted […]

Wild Gas Chase

Fear over chemical weapons — the real ones — grows The Bush administration claimed that Iraq harbored up to 500 tons of chemical weapons, but teams of investigators came back empty-handed. Perhaps the U.S. should have invaded Australia — or China, or Russia, or, heck, itself. These countries each possess a share of the world’s […]

Take Two Tickets to the City and Call Me in the Morning

Suburban sprawl is bad for your health Not only is suburban sprawl bad for the environment — encouraging car use and overly large, energy-inefficient homes, paving paradise to put up a parking lot, etc. — but it’s bad for the folks who live there as well, according to a new study to be published in […]

Judy Logback, enterprising Amazonian activist, answers questions

Judy Logback. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I arrived in Ecuador in 1997 and throughout the past seven years have visited and worked with more than 600 rural families to encourage them to establish the Kallari Association, a small farmers’ and artisans’ organization dedicated to sustainable organic production of a diverse array of […]

How to Make the Environment a Hot Election Issue

Umbra on recycling pencil stubs

Dear Umbra, I’m looking for a place that accepts pencil stubs (one to two inches long) to recycle into new pencils. I’ve found recycled pencils online — made from denim, plastic, recovered wood, and paper currency. But what can I do with my stubs? PhoenixCovington, Ky. Dearest Phoenix, All the waste-reduction tips tell you to […]

Like a Tundra of Bricks

Arctic tundra may produce rather than absorb CO2, accelerating warming It’s not often that drama emerges from the Arctic tundra, but there seems to be genuine excitement around revelations from a 20-year study just completed and published in the journal Nature. Researchers have long assumed that Arctic tundra would be a carbon dioxide “sink,” absorbing […]

If I Were Dictator … Oh, Wait, I Am!

China establishes its first-ever fuel-efficiency standards for cars Attempting to combat its growing dependence on oil imports, China is set to establish fuel-efficiency standards for cars, SUVs, and vans for the first time. The standards are identical to those in a draft circulated last November, about which the auto industry strenuously complained, claiming they were […]

May the Schwarz Be With You

Schwarzenegger signs bevy of environmental bills California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) won props from enviros this week as he signed into law more than two dozen pro-environment bills. The measures will (take a deep breath) allow drivers of hybrids getting at least 45 miles per gallon to go solo in highway carpool lanes, require that […]

Readers sound off on the Republican National Convention, barbecue, and more

    Sippin’ on Spin and Juice Dear Editor: I was astonished to read in Amanda Griscom’s column that many major environmental groups opted out of the protests in New York City against the Republican National Convention. By siding with the Republican-propagated view that these protests were likely to be violent, they allowed themselves to […]