Climate Climate & Energy

Why is Britain's best environmentalist barred from the U.S.?

John Stewart -- not that Jon Stewart, the one with the H -- was voted the U.K.'s most effective environmentalist in 2008. Like our Jon Stewart, he gets things done. So how come his visa was revoked while he was over the Atlantic, traveling to the U.S. for a speaking tour?

No, the EPA is NOT expanding 1,350 percent

Apparently the right-wing blogosphere, not to mention some "news" organizations, will believe just about anything about the EPA. The most recent ridiculous rumor is that the agency, which currently employs 17,000 people, is on track to hire "230,000 new bureaucrats" -- at taxpayer expense, natch -- while bumping its $8.7 billion budget up to $21 billion.

How did this happen? Basically, the world's dumbest game of telephone.

Oh, now we're not regulating greenhouse gases either

The EPA, as expected, has decided to postpone making rules about carbon dioxide and other harmful gas emissions from power plants. I mean, greenhouse gas regulations? How is that REMOTELY the job of the Environmental Protection Agency, amirite?

Alternative fuel source: Doritos?

We use hydrocarbons in cars, home heating, and so forth because hydrocarbons burn. We also make snack chips out of hydrocarbons because we are disgusting. Ergo, we should be able to run our combustion energy off of Doritos! Okay, so it would probably miss the point if we tried to replace fossil fuels with snack […]

Critical List: Congress holds Solyndra hearing; Bill Gates pushes for more clean energy funding

Lawmakers want to talk about Solyndra, its federal funding, and its bankruptcy. Solyndra execs realized that if they don't come to Washington, they don't have to talk about any of that. For good measure they may build a pillow fort to hide in.

Congress is still going to talk about it, of course. And probably use some strongly worded language.

A day before this hearing, Bill Gates and a bunch of other rich guys urged Congress to invest more in clean energy. #badtiming

Looks like we might get a do-over Earth after all

A research team at Chile's La Silla Observatory has found a new crop of 50 exoplanets, at least one of which is in the "habitable zone" (i.e. an Earthlike distance from the sun). HD 85512 b is rocky instead of gaseous, big but not too big, and preliminary observations suggest an average surface temperature of a balmy 77 degrees F -- all of which make it a good candidate to be Earth Mark II. Phew, just in time! This one's almost worn out!

Two good (and overlooked) ideas in Obama's jobs plan

David Roberts highlights two great ideas from Obama's jobs plan: greening schools and expanding job-sharing.

Representative thinks Obama controls the weather

Yeah, that's Rep. Joe Wilson, of the "You lie!" outburst. Is it possible the reason they don't believe in science is that they actually believe in magic?

Mitt stakes: Romney botches 9 energy facts

Mitt Romney released his much-hyped jobs plan Tuesday. In the energy section alone, there are 9 inconsistencies and factually incorrect statements.

How to assess hurricane damage using waffles

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has an idiosyncratic (and tasty) way of determining the damage caused by a hurricane: the Waffle House Index. The iconic Southern chain is so widespread -- and so stalwart -- that you can gauge a storm's severity based on whether the local Waffle Houses closed.