Climate Climate & Energy
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Notes on the Underground
The February issue of Scientific American tells of a new technology that makes me both rejoice and worry. It looks so great, so likely to relieve a massive environmental problem that there’s no way I could oppose it. But on second, third, and fourth thought, I have some doubts. The technology is called carbon sequestration. […]
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Hot and Steamy
Geothermal power will get a boost today when U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announces a goal of generating as much as 10 percent of the West’s electricity from geothermal sources by 2020. Richardson will announce $4.8 million in grants to advance research in geothermal energy, a renewable source that taps heat energy from under the […]
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Car Talk
70 million motor vehicles were on the world’s roads in 1950 630 million motor vehicles were on the world’s roads in 1994 1 billion motor vehicles are expected to be on the world’s roads by 2025, if the current growth rate continues 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted by the average car each year […]
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Forty
• percentage by which energy consumption in developing nations is expected to grow by 2010 • percentage of written prescriptions that are either based on or synthesized from natural compounds found in plants and animals • percentage of total paper used in Germany that goes toward packaging • percentage by which one can reduce pollution […]
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Wind power is dividing enviros and spurring some odd alliances
The National Audubon Society hosted a news conference in September 1999 to denounce Enron Wind Corp.’s plans to build a wind farm near the town of Gorman in Southern California, with enough capacity to power 40,000 homes. “It is hard to imagine a worse idea than putting a condor Cuisinart next door to critical condor […]
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Or, where do a bunch of white American men (and one woman) think environmentalism is headed in the 2
Grist succumbs to millennial fever with this rendition of the classic what’s-gonna-be-hot-in-the-new-year roundup. At a recent D.C. chat session organized by Environmental Media Services, enviro leaders shared their thoughts on where the movement is headed in the coming century, what big, scary issues are lurking on the horizon, and what we need to do to […]
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In Other Words …
A while ago I wrote a column full of solemn statements from august scientists and other wise persons, warning that we are trashing our planet at a sickening pace. The august persons didn’t say “trashing” or “sickening.” They spoke of “adverse consequences” and “significant geopolitical risk.” An Alert Reader (to steal a phrase from Dave […]
