Latest Articles

Gambler’s Dilemma

Investing in renewable energy can pose ethical dilemmas Over the past two years, the value of fossil-fuel companies has soared while the worldwide stock-market value of renewable-energy companies has declined from $13 billion to $10.7 billion. This, despite ever-renewing hope that a major energy transition will spark a boom in the renewables arena. Many Wall […]

Sturm Und Dang

Climate change and urbanization lead to more natural-disaster fatalities Thanks to global warming and the increasing concentration of the earth’s denizens in densely populated urban centers, more and more people are vulnerable to natural disasters — floods, droughts, storms, fires, landslides, and the like. The number of reported natural disasters rose from 261 in 1990 […]

Brent Blackwelder, Friends of the Earth chieftain, answers questions

With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am president of Friends of the Earth. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute “mission accomplished”? Friends of the Earth is a national environmental organization celebrating our 35th anniversary this year. We are part of Friends of the Earth International, with member […]

Car Wars II: The Accord Strikes Back

Honda’s new hybrid Accord takes aim at Toyota Toyota has thus far dominated the market for gas-electric hybrid vehicles, with its so-hot-Cameron-Diaz-has-one Prius outselling Honda’s diminutive Civic Hybrid by an almost two-to-one margin in the U.S. this year (and let’s not even mention Honda’s Insight — you ever seen one?). Now Honda is fighting back […]

Sounds Familiar …

Conservative Australian leader gets green during election year Australian Prime Minister John Howard has long been viewed as an implacable foe of environmentalists, scoffing at the Kyoto Protocol, supporting logging in old-growth forests, and declaiming his unwillingness to lose a single job or dollar of economic growth in the name of environmental protection. However, it’s […]

Umbra on finding solar-power stats

Dear Umbra, Are there any statistics that show what percentage of solar power is generated state by state, and which states are more solar-friendly? Also, do power companies give out any figures on how much energy they buy back from home solar producers? Thanks from Los Angeles, Calif. Dearest Los Angeles, Life is great. As […]

Boilerplate Tectonics

Bush and Kerry discuss their positions on science In the latest issue of the journal Nature, President Bush and John Kerry each respond to 15 questions about science and related topics. Because the responses are written, neither candidate sounds like himself — there are no Bushian malapropisms or Kerryan layered qualifiers — and for the […]

A Bridger-Teton Over Troubled Water

Chalk up a win for Wyoming wildlands Here’s a rare victory for the wilderness crowd: The U.S. Forest Service announced this week that it will suspend plans to open 157,000 acres of Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest — much of it roadless — to oil and gas drilling. Enviros say the forest is one of the […]

All in the Family

Kerry draws on family and Clinton admin folks for environmental advice Check out MSNBC for a handy roster of John Kerry’s top advisers on the environment. At the center of his advisory circle is family, namely wife Teresa and stepson Andre Heinz. Teresa — who first met Kerry at an Earth Day rally — serves […]

Saleem Ali sends dispatches from a sustainable peace and development gathering

Saleem Ali is assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of Vermont and on the adjunct faculty of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He is attending the Wilton Park Conference on Environment, Development, and Sustainable Peace. Thursday, 16 Sep 2004 STEYNING, U.K. A quiet English estate, renowned for its roster […]