Articles by Adam Browning

Me, in the L.A. Times on Los Angeles' Measure B

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power works hard to exempt itself from renewable energy legislation from Sacramento, and, not coincidentally, it's also the dirtiest utility in the state. About 50 percent of the electricity they sell their customers comes from coal.

So when the utility announced a huge new solar plan, that's all good news, right? The Los Angeles Times asked me for a review of Measure B, a ballot initiative that would enable the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to install 400 MW of solar on land and rooftops within the city. I'm no Hamlet, so I dived into the messy politics, and you can find the piece here.

If you don't hear from me in the next few days, watch this for clues. Been nice knowing you.

The benefits of a carbon-free vacation

This is my cousin Tom's idea of a vacation:

He takes a bus across the Golden Gate Bridge to Rodeo Beach. He's wearing hiking boots, jeans, and a windbreaker. He carries a small backpack, volume of John Muir inside. And a sandwich. He hikes up the Coastal trail to Wolf Ridge, bundled against the morning fog, then down to Tennessee beach. Seagulls caw and whirl. Sandwich, book, nap on the beach to the sound of crashing waves on California's north coast. Stretches, shakes the sand out of his hair, hikes over the ridge to Pirate's Cove, then down to Muir Beach. Checks into the Pelican Inn. Has a cold Lagunitas Lager and reads a few pages of Muir, soaking in the clawfoot tub. Down to dinner, then a nightcap with locals. Really, Jerry Garcia used to play here? And you filled in on harmonica? Nip of night air and impossible stars before turning in. And that's just day one. There are three more days until Olema.

A carbon-free vacation sounds pretty good, don't it? He's got tips, trail maps, and community here.

Ditty Bops nominated for Grammy thanks to sustainable CD packaging

Remember when album art mattered? My college band, Groove or Die, had the idea of one-upping the Rolling Stones by making our album jacket out of an actual pair of pants.

That idea, like most things Groove or Die-related -- including actually recording music -- never quite made it out of the dining hall.

This trip down memory lane was brought on by the Ditty Bops, whose efforts to create an album out of recycled materials and soy-based inks earned their album Summer Rains a Grammy nomination for "Best Recording Package" (that's what they're calling album art in this post-vinyl age). As I have seen them perform wearing nothing but recycled plastic bags, in a sense they one-upped Groove or Die by wearing album material instead of making album material out of what they wear.

You can't violate the laws of physics

"The erroneous belief that stabilizing emissions would quickly stabilize the climate supports wait-and-see policies but violates basic laws of physics."

-- Dr. John Sterman, risk analyst at the Sloan School of Business, M.I.T.