Climate Climate & Energy

Romancing the Stove

States sue DOE, press for energy-saving standards for appliances New York City and 15 states have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Energy, saying the agency has failed to update energy-saving standards for nearly two dozen household appliances — changes that would save gobs of energy. According to the suit, the DOE has violated […]

Umbra on why we shouldn’t waste energy

Dear Umbra, I am doing a big geography project at school on saving energy and recycling. My part is to comment on what will happen if we keep wasting energy. I know the basic information, but I am not sure what to write, as it is to be given out to adults (and I’m only […]

Hurricane Katrina brings a foretaste of environmental disasters to come

If the images of skyscrapers collapsed in heaps of ash were the end of one story — the U.S. safe on its isolated continent from the turmoil of the world — then the picture of the sodden Superdome with its peeling roof marks the beginning of the next story, the one that will dominate our […]

A hurricane expert explains the climate-change connection

As the world watched New Orleans’ devastating descent into squalor last week, questions about connections between global warming and hurricanes reemerged. A few politicians and activists leapt to offer their views, most of which were unmeritorious. So what does the science say? Swifter, higher, stronger? Investigations of the climatology of tropical cyclones (the generic name […]

Lesley Marcus Carlson, cofounder of Carbonfund, answers questions

Lesley Marcus Carlson. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am the president of Carbonfund.org. What does your organization do? Very simply, we make it easy and affordable for individuals or businesses to reduce their climate footprints to zero. We help people understand their impact on the climate and mitigate it by supporting energy […]

How are journalists covering climate change in Katrina’s wake?

As the 140-mile-per-hour winds of Hurricane Katrina raged through the lush lowlands of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on Monday, as people clung to their roofs, as levees crumbled, as fires blazed, we met in the Grist offices and asked each other: “Wonder if anyone’s writing about climate change?” Frankly, we committed the sin of heartlessness […]

Coming at It From a New Anglo

U.K. Christian groups ally with eco-advocates to lobby on climate change Several Christian organizations in the U.K. have joined forces with environmental groups in a new alliance to “Stop Climate Chaos.” The coalition is pressuring the British government to make cutting greenhouse-gas emissions a domestic and international priority and to support international aid and development […]

Umbra on offsetting emissions from flatulence

Dear Umbra, I was wondering if there is any information about the average CO2 emissions from human flatulence. My friend (and I really do mean my friend, I’m not just trying to hide that it’s for me) has a birthday coming up, and I think it would be a fun and meaningful gift to get […]

Freedom to Pollute Is on the March

New air rules could allow coal-fired plants to pollute more The Bush administration may finally eviscerate the legal basis for many pesky air-pollution lawsuits against coal-fired power plants. A new proposal being drafted by the U.S. EPA would change the system for monitoring plants’ emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide: after a plant modernized […]

The latest solution to pumped-up prices

Because I'm obsessed with reactions to gas prices, I shall tell you about an email I got this morning from a childhood friend in Maine. Maybe you've also gotten it. But not from my friend, a sweet woman who usually forwards the Ann-Landers messages: you know, a poem reminding you to love your kids and scratch behind your dog's ears, because tomorrow you might all be dead, that sort of thing.

Today's note is about a campaign to "force a price war" by not buying gas from ExxonMobil. The thinking goes that once they feel the sting, they'll have to lower prices below $2, and everyone else will follow suit. Hmm ...

The most interesting part (to wonky ol' me) was this line: "Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas." Sigh. In a breakdown of an older version of this chain letter and an explanation of why it will never, ever work, Break the Chain slips in this bit of finger-wagging: "If you want to save money at the pump, slow down on the freeway, plan outings to get everything in one trip, walk more, and trade in that gas-guzzling SUV for an economical compact car for starters."