Articles by Adam Browning

Check your local listings

All the magazines have gone to press with what's become their annual Green Issue. And now TV is in on the act.

MTV has a special Earth Day edition of Pimp My Ride: they take a '65 Impala, put in a 800 hp diesel engine, fill the tank with biodiesel, and race it against a Lamborghini. My money is on the Impala. Cameo by Governor Schwarzenegger, check local listings (April 22). While this isn't exactly a recipe for sustainability, that's not really the point, either. Everyone should work to their strengths, and if MTV can make it sexy to get the kids involved, all the better.

PBS is airing a NOVA special titled "Saved by the Sun," which asks the provocative question: "Is it time to take solar seriously?" Yes, is the answer. It features a hero of mine, Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates, who built the first solar powered neighborhood in 1984, put what was then the world's largest solar system on the roof of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and is now designing a solar system for the SF Giants baseball stadium. He has been doing this longer and better than anyone else in the business and fully deserves his day in the sun. Ahem. April 24, generally 8 PM on your local PBS station, check local listings.

Boxer is a fighter

Senator Boxer vows to take the global warming fight to the administration, rules out carbon tax in favor of cap and trade.

The San Francisco Chronicle has the details.

Beaked inhabitants of the world, unite

In a disturbing development, there are indications that birds, apparently pissed at the concerted assault on their habitat, are organizing to fight back against the man they hold responsible.

Also at issue are what birds claim are repeated efforts to shoot them in the head.

Ahh, democracy

Last night the Maryland legislature passed a world-class solar program -- 1,400 MW of solar on rooftops over the next 15 years, putting Maryland in the upper echelon of solar-supporting states. Kudos, congrats, and thanks to the Maryland advocates that made this happen.

That this passed is a good thing. But how it passed is a lesson that bears wider dissemination.