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Articles by Terry Tamminen

Terry Tamminen is the former secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency and is now a policy adviser and author. His latest book is Watercolors: How JJ the Whale Saved Us.

Featured Article

What do you get Mother Earth on her big day (reminder: it’s April 22nd!)? She’s just so hard to shop for and, after all, she already has everything. She might appreciate one of those self-help books, although few moms want a gift that implies they are fat or “polluted”, but aren’t her kids the reason she might be feeling worn out and depleted in the first place? Well, here are the Top Five Tips to help you pick out something in her size and color that might just brighten her coming year:

5. A new U.S. Congress. OK, so you’ll have to give her a gift certificate for that, because you can’t actually deliver this before the November elections, but let’s face it, her current Congress needs a total makeover when it comes to sustainability. For example, one survey shows 163 members of Congress took nearly $60m in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry last year and, not surprisingly, deny that climate change is a problem (http://thinkprogress.org/climate-denier-caucus/). When the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meets again in Paris in 2015 to hammer out a new global “post Kyoto” agreement to tackle climate change, we need a Congress that will... Read more

All Articles

  • Climate Change Cowards

    Overheard at the water cooler this week: Tom: Sally, did you know we can solve climate change for as little as $35 per person? Sally: I’m afraid that’s a waste of my money, Tom. Tom: But what if a polluter gave you the $35 and you could buy things like LED lights that saved you […]

  • Snakebit Supply Chains

    Ever hear of a reality show called “Snake Salvation?” Me neither, until one of the serpent-handling co-stars was bit last month by a snake during a church service and later died. How does this unfortunate incident relate to sustainability and supply chains? Overlooking the obvious can come back to bite you. We all remember the […]

  • How to Have a Very Happy New Year

    As the confetti is swept away and the world gets back to work, will 2014 be a banner year or will we be singing that “old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind” a year from now? Here are a few reasons to think the world will be greener a year from now, both […]

  • Something Better than Coal in Your Stocking?

    Legend says that naughty kids get a lump of coal in their Christmas stocking, so do nice kids get clean energy in theirs, at least metaphorically speaking? It all depends on who plays Santa Claus with your investments or in your nation’s capital. In Pakistan, the government recently announced plans to build a 2200 megawatt […]