Climate Culture

Live Earth will be honored with music industry green award

Midem, an annual international trade show for the music industry, has created a new green award that it will bestow upon Live Earth later this month in Cannes, France — because Al Gore can never have too many awards. Also honored will be Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, which serves all drinks in returnable plastic mugs, and […]

David Beckham has world’s biggest carbon footprint, says group

David Beckham. Photo: Robert Mora/WireImage The member of the human race with the biggest carbon footprint is (drumroll please …) soccer football golden boy David Beckham, according to green group Carbon Trust. The hottest star in the Galaxy and wife Victoria-but-please-call-me-Posh have won the dubious honor for the second time. The duo have 15 gas […]

Umbra on resolutions for 2008

Dear Umbra, Sorry to crowd your inbox, but I just want to thank you for answering my question about paint disposal … it was very helpful (as always). I’m SO glad you’re back from being kidnapped. I hope it wasn’t too awful an ordeal. Thanks again, Erin Chicago Dearest Erin, Happy New Year! Happy 2008, […]

Please, can we lay off the calls for sacrifice in the face of climate change?

This New York Times editorial says a bunch of stuff that I agree with, in a way that doesn't seem helpful at all:

The overriding environmental issue of these times is the warming of the planet. The Democratic hopefuls in the 2008 campaign are fully engaged, calling for large -- if still unquantified -- national sacrifices and for a transformation in the way the country produces and uses energy.

The term "sacrifice" gets bandied about a lot, mostly as a way to lend moral seriousness to arguments about climate change. Are you merely paying lip service to the issue, or are you willing to lay down the hard truths?

Of course, no one really knows how much sacrifice will be required. Economic projections of the cost of dealing with climate change put the value somewhere around "not terribly much." But who knows? It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future.

The bigger problem is that the term "sacrifice" misrepresents the process. Decarbonizing involves millions of consumers and businesses making billions of small consumption decisions in response to price signals, just as they do every day.

New-Year-heralding ball will be energy-efficient

As promised, the ball that will drop in Times Square tonight to herald the new year will be dazzling both in its brightness and its energy efficiency. On the 100th anniversary of the tradition, the 1,415-pound ball with a circumference of some 6 feet will glow with more than 9,500 energy-efficient LED lights. Its descent […]

New Year’s Resolutions 2008

Make our Olympic debut We’re good at shooting the breeze, bouncing from clubs, and spiking the punch, so look for us in Beijing at the archery, trampoline, or volleyball competitions. Obviously we’re totally qualified, but we still might not go — the decision’s up in the air. Literally. Photo: Marco Scala via flickr Eat organicagefreeganatural […]

Off-road vehicle use has surged in Western wilderness areas

Motorized outdoor enthusiasts are converging in increasing numbers on Western public lands — not only in areas marked for such outdoor enthusiasm, but in wilderness areas where rules against off-roading are nearly impossible to enforce. Registration of all-terrain vehicles and motorbikes in four Western states tripled from 1998 to 2006. The surge is traceable to […]

When do green ads translate to green action?

The greening of the U.S. of A. still has a ways to go. We’re plundering Canada’s tar sands and mining the Midwest’s topsoil to keep our cars on the road. We lay waste to ton after ton of Chinese coal to fuel our cheap-stuff habit. And so on. But if our habits remain environmentally ruinous, […]

The wide world of green sports, in easily digestible nuggets

There are various and sundry things to report on the green sporting goings-on from the last — ahem — two months, so with no further ado: The synthetic-turf debate hits the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Nantucket Independent, the Port Washington News, and some small rag called The New York Times. Also, golfers at Luxembourg Airport […]

The ear as an underutilized data input port

I've been experimenting with audiobooks, not only because they may one day replace the tree-eating variety, but also because I like the idea of listening to a book while performing other less entertaining tasks. Meetings fit that definition but turn out not to be good candidates for other reasons.

My brain has two main data input ports: my ears and eyes. Of the two, my ears seem to be the least utilized. However, I didn't know if I could listen to a book and chew gum at the same time so I decided to test the idea out before I made a significant investment. I visited my public library's audiobook section to see what books are available and in what format.

It turns out that finding a device that will play them is much more difficult than it should be.