Climate Climate & Energy

Should enviros view high gas prices as good news?

Like many environmentalists, I tend to think that gasoline prices -- even at today's wallet-rending heights -- are too low.

In fact, no matter how high the market price for petroleum goes, it ought to be higher, since it won't include the so-called "external costs" of using oil. For example, whenever I burn a gallon of gas in my car, I'm creating pollution and climate-warming emissions; fostering overseas military entanglements; increasing the risk of oil spills and pipeline leaks; siphoning money from the local economy into the bank accounts of unsavory oil magnates; yada yada. Each of those factors carries a cost -- sometimes intangible, often hard to quantify, but real nonetheless. And because I don't pay those costs when I fill up -- I just let the rest of the globe pick up the tab -- I tend to buy more gas than I otherwise would.

Let’s Baikal the Whole Thing Off

Russian president changes route of Siberian pipeline to protect lake Last month, we reported that a Siberia-to-Asia oil pipeline backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to be built half a mile from the world’s deepest lake, home to hundreds of unique species. Well, we’ve been Putin our place: yesterday, the Russian prez ordered […]

Critics say Peru pipeline is an accident waiting to happen

The boat ride down southeastern Peru’s Urubamba River cuts through mountains and sweltering jungle, passing wooden shacks of colonos — mixed race and grindingly poor Peruvians lured to the jungle with promises of free land — and nativos, tribes recently brought into contact with the modern world. The area is a biological gold mine, home […]

Umbra on water vapor and climate change

Dear Umbra, Coming from a scientific background, I was under the assumption that water vapor was the worst — or you could say the best — at causing global warming. Do you believe this to be false, and if not, why is no one talking about it? Erik Nash Dearest Erik, I’ve decided to use […]

Umbra on the greenhouse effect

Dear Umbra, Man-made greenhouse gases are blamed for recent global-warming trends. But man-made greenhouse gases account for only 5 percent of the greenhouse effect. Water vapor, over which civilization has virtually no control, accounts for some 95 percent of that greenhouse effect. Why has so much attention been focused on man-made gases when they comprise […]

Biodiesel: The slippery facts

Biodiesel -- the cleaner-burning vegetable-based oil that can be substituted for ordinary petroleum diesel -- is getting a lot of press these days. That's not too surprising: alternatives to oil tend to get a lot of attention when fuel prices are rising, which they're certainly doing right now.

Perhaps the biggest piece of recent policy news is Washington state's new renewable fuels standard, passed just last month, which mandates that 2 percent of the diesel sold in the state must be biodiesel by the end of 2008.

That got me thinking -- why just 2 percent? Couldn't we do better than that?

Well, maybe so. But perhaps not by a whole lot.

Are you America’s most energy-inefficient person?

Just got word that Lowe's, Whirlpool, and the U.S. EPA Energy Star program will search this summer for the country's 10 most energy-inefficient families. The lucky winners will receive a home energy makeover "to lower their monthly bills and help save the environment" and a return visit a year later to see how it's all going. During the search, Lowe's stores will host hands-on energy-conservation clinics. It's all in honor of the 10th anniversary of people ignoring Energy Star.

Death Rides a Slightly Less Pale Horse

Climate change may not totally wipe out the human species In what passes for good news on global warming these days, a new study has determined that climate sensitivity — the extent to which climate will react to increased greenhouse-gas levels — is likely within the mid-range of predictions. That means an atmospheric doubling of […]

One for the Record Books, If They Survive the Floods

U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions hit record high This week, the feds quietly — as in, tiptoeing in socks, holding breath — released annual stats on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, as required by the U.N. climate-change convention. The news is roughly as good as you would expect: The U.S., with only 5 percent of the world’s population, is […]

A climate-change compendium

Dear Umbra, I know you don’t make up questions, but in this instance I think it’s acceptable. Could you suggest a collection of resources on climate change? I think it might help us all get better educated on this vital topic. Even if they don’t spend an hour of their Earth Day sifting through the […]