Climate Climate & Energy

Thrill Spill Cult

Water should keep pouring over Northwest dams to aid salmon, court says Salmon will continue to find a watery way over several Northwest dams. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week voted to uphold a federal judge’s June order for the feds to aid migrating salmon by spilling water over five dams in […]

Gas-Muzzler

EPA holds back negative report on U.S. auto fuel efficiency According to a report not released Wednesday by the U.S. EPA, loopholes in U.S. fuel-economy standards let automakers produce cars and trucks much less fuel-efficient than models 20 years ago. On Tuesday, the same day the long-debated energy bill emerged from congressional negotiations, EPA opted […]

Switch Emitters

Led by U.S., five nations craft new climate-change pact Australia, China, India, South Korea, and the U.S. have secretly negotiated a global-warming pact that could steal the spotlight from the Kyoto Protocol — or so the U.S. hopes. According to advance word from a meeting of Asia-Pacific nations in Laos, this fledgling “Asia-Pacific Partnership for […]

Inuit fight climate change with human-rights claim against U.S.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier. Photo: ICC. When Sheila Watt-Cloutier was growing up in Kuujjuaq, an Inuit village in far northern Quebec, summer days never got hot enough for shorts and T-shirts. Only the very brave ventured into the frigid local river for a swim. But now, she says, there are many warm days, and “the whole community […]

Queen of the Dammed

British royals to bolster green rep with efficient mini-hydro plant On Friday, a local U.K. council approved Queen Elizabeth’s plan to build a mini hydroelectric power plant dedicated to Windsor Castle. The energy-efficient four-turbine plant on the River Thames is expected to supply enough electricity to keep about a third of the castle juiced. It’ll […]

Umbra on micro-wind

Dear Umbra, Are there any worthwhile resources or models that would enable me to generate my own electricity in a cost-effective way, using wind power? This is on a one-household basis. Matt PinesToronto, Canada Dearest Matt, In jargon-land, you are interested in micro-wind. Little did you know! Because you are a blessed Canadian, you have […]

Urbana Renewal

Illinois commission votes to expand state’s clean energy sources The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a sustainable-energy initiative designed to increase the state’s reliance on renewables, especially wind power. The plan is voluntary, but if it is fully embraced by all of the state’s utilities Illinois could see 8 percent of its electricity produced via […]

Umbra on wind farms … again

Dear Umbra, In your response about opposition to wind farms, you neglected in your enthusiasm to say how much electricity from wind would actually be used and what effect, if any, the farms would have on our overall energy use. Can you cite an example of actual reduction of fossil- and nuclear-fuel use brought about […]

In a warmed world, even food won’t be as good for you

Humanity is on the threshold of a century of extraordinary bounty, courtesy of global climate change. That’s the opinion of Robert Balling, former scientific adviser to the Greening Earth Society, a lobbying arm of the power industry founded by the Western Fuels Association. In a world where atmospheric carbon dioxide levels soar from the burning […]

Global concerts to focus on G8, but not climate change

With the G8 Summit just days away, pop stars the world over are preparing for marathon concerts tomorrow in each of the eight wealthiest nations in the world. Modeled after the Live Aid concerts 20 years ago (when the likes of U2, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger performed for some 1.5 billion people and helped raise money for Ethiopia's famine), the Live 8 concerts aim to draw attention to and demand action from the leaders gathering at the summit.

Unfortunately, however, Live 8 is focused on only one of summit leader Tony Blair's two main goals for the meeting -- and it's not climate change. Don't get me wrong; I'm definitely anti-poverty-in-Africa. I just wish some of the media attention this Live 8 concert will get on outlets like MTV and VH1 -- where younger, impressionable viewers will be watching -- could be focused on that other major issue.