Articles by Christopher Mims

A day in the life of John Q. Public and his electric car

Kevin Day is just some dude who bought a Nissan Leaf and is kinda in love with it. Even with a daily 30-mile commute, he only has to charge it once every three days; he appreciates its fast pickup and ultra-quiet ride; and it saves him about $100 a month in gas. (As one commenter […]

Surprise! Europe's climate policy is working

According to figures released today as part of the European Commission's annual report on its progress to meeting its Kyoto targets, E.U. greenhouse-gas emissions for 2010 were 15.5 percent below 1990 levels despite economic growth of 41 percent over the same period.

Climate change is the reason kids don't go outside anymore

Only one in 10 kids goes outside every day. It's hard to see how this is possible, unless the other 90 percent are Morlocks, but maybe shuttling between the front door and the air-conditioned interior of mom and dad's SUV doesn't count.

‘I will rather invest in cycle tracks than freeways,’ says Danish politician

Denmark is going to be the best cycling country in the world. Cycling leads to better public health, a cleaner urban environment, and helps us reach our climatic goals. So I will rather invest in cycle tracks than freeways!

So sayeth Margrethe Vestager, the new Danish minister of the economy and the interior. Vestager wants to increase the share of trips taken by bicycle 50 percent in 10 years, with at least half of those trips representing a replacement of a car with a bike.