Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
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Ayatollah You So
Iran is in the midst of its worst drought in 30 years, heightening problems caused by poor water management, climate change, and rapid population growth. The country’s largest body of freshwater, Lake Hamoun, is now desert and 100 nearby villages are disappearing beneath sand. Drinking water is being rationed in more than 30 cities, including […]
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At the Head of the Class
Lawyers from top environmental groups in the U.S. are considering such new legal strategies as broad-based class-action lawsuits to force the U.S. and corporations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Whether in federal courts or international tribunals, the lawyers would sue on behalf of people or whole countries suffering from the effects of global warming. For […]
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Let It Blow, Let It Blow, Let It Blow
Wind power is now cheaper than coal in the U.S., according to a study published in the journal Science. The study’s researchers, two Stanford engineers, priced wind power at 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour, already competitive with the market price for coal power. After factoring in health and environmental costs, they put the […]
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Give a Honk, Don't Pollute
On top of warming up the earth, pollution from burning fossil fuels is killing thousands of people a year, according to a study published in the journal Science. For starters, Devra Lee Davis of Carnegie Mellon University and four coauthors found that if Mexico City, New York, Sao Paulo, and Santiago employed technologies that now […]
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Humpty Dumpty Sat on the Great Wall
Claims by China that it has significantly reduced its greenhouse gas emissions may be a bunch of hooey. A Japanese scientist funded by the World Bank found that coal production hasn’t gone down nearly as much as represented by China. Other researchers assert that oil consumption is increasing in the country at a faster clip […]
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Iceland Iceland Baby
Iceland is gunning to be the world’s first carbon-free economy. The country is in something of a bind, as it now has very low carbon-dioxide emissions and the Kyoto treaty on climate change gives it little room to expand its economy in a way that would increase its emissions. Already, 67 percent of Iceland’s energy […]
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Fright Train
Sometime this summer, the feds are planning to transport nuclear waste from power plants via train from New York to a U.S. Energy Department reservation in southeastern Idaho. Dubbing the shipment a “mobile Chernobyl,” anti-nuke advocates plan to raise a ruckus when the freight train comes through. Although the shipment across the country will be […]
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Czech Your Nukes at the Door
Germany has asked the Czech Republic to shut down the Temelin nuclear power plant near the borders of Germany and Austria. Austria became nuke-free in 1978, and German utilities agreed last month to close their 19 nuclear plants within 20 years. The Temelin plant, which began operating last fall, has provoked major protests from local […]
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Surge, in General
Canada will see its pollution levels surge if it boosts its oil and natural gas exports to meet the needs of its power-hungry southern neighbor, according to a report released on Friday by the David Suzuki Foundation. For example, the report says a big increase in exports to the U.S. would cause greenhouse gas emissions […]
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Electric Boogie
12,133 — per capita annual electricity consumption (kilowatt-hours) in the U.S. in 1997 1,381 — per capita annual electricity consumption (kilowatt-hours) in the rest of the world in 1997 21.5 — percentage increase in U.S. electricity consumption from 1990 to 1999 43 — percentage decrease in utility funding for energy efficiency from 1993 to 1998 […]
