Climate Culture

Water, that is

Take a few minutes to drink up this NYT editorial on the virtues of tap water. It’s one of the most emailed stories on the NYT site, so maybe you’ve already seen it. This bit is particularly relevant … Water bottles, like other containers, are made from natural gas and petroleum. The Earth Policy Institute […]

Go car-free, win stuff

Here's something most Gristers are probably already doing: going car-free once a week. So step up, take credit, and get entered to win these prizes from New American Dream:

• Grand Prize: A one-week Bike Tour of Oregon for you and a friend, provided by Sustainable Energy in Motion
• Second Prize: A Villager U-frame Breezer Bike
• Third Prize: A $200 carbon offset from Native Energy (and a snazzy t-shirt as well)

Legendary Burning Man festival gets an eco-conscience

Armen Zeitounian leads the way up the staircase of the house he’s living in, a two-story colonial nestled in the smoggy hills north of Los Angeles, complete with a view and a pool and a black Ford Explorer in the driveway. In a room on the top floor, a two-by-six-inch plank, painted white, protrudes about […]

MIT lab rats cook up a less wasteful gasoline engine

Don't hum the requiem for the gasoline engine just yet. MIT brainiacs say it's easier than imagined to flip a car between the usual gas-guzzling state to a low-pollution, ultra-efficient mode.

The researchers have tested a system that can run on a quarter less than the usual amount of gas without needing any fancy fuel. With the flick of a switch, the setup alternates between regular, spark-triggered combustion and experimental homogeneous charge compression ignition.

In the latter system, premixed fuel and air combust when compressed, spewing less soot and NOx from the engine. Volvo has explored the hybrid technology, but many kinks would need to untangle before you could get behind the wheel.

If car makers adopted such hybrid gasoline ignitions, the petroleum wouldn't get any cleaner, but less of it would be used, potentially adding a few miles per gallon of efficiency to a car. That might keep the grins up at oil companies and gas stations -- but in dreamland, only for a fleeting moment, as the world weans off of fossil fuels. Right?

This and other stopgap car-greening measures of now and the near future are giving people more driving options than ever. What's more interesting -- the novelty of this innovation, or that it's reaching the not-quite-there-yet phase of development more than a century after Daimler and Benz got props for the modern gas engine?

From Vegans to Vengeance

Meat-free market Tired of cracks about the size of their sausage, some vegans have decided to have sex only with each other. Vegansexuals “taste a lot better,” says one — and in their world, soys doesn’t matter. Photo: iStockphoto Ears to you Nu metal band Korn have cobbled together plans for a green tour, complete […]

At last, a use for that old Milli Vanilli CD

Long ago, I promised an interview component to Ask a Brokeass. I’ve talked to some badass brokeasses since then, but I haven’t gotten around to transcribing all of those interviews. The intern needs an intern. Then last week I received an email from Mark Hexamer, co-founder of the innovative new media trading site Swaptree.com, who […]

And sporting even more green efforts than last year

Hold on to your long boards, ladies and gentlemen, the Summer X Games is now underway in sunny Los Angeles, Calif. And while I can’t say I personally would compete in a sport where one must hurl oneself through the air and then land oneself atop a foot-long piece of wood on wheels, I do […]

Toxic fun

Once again, it turns out plastic toys from China are more than just an eyesore -- they're a hazard. A toy recall of 86 Fisher Price products, including several branded toddler favorites like the Dora and Elmo, was issued yesterday because of a lead-paint hazard. After scrolling the list, I decided my kids were safe -- for now. At least I think so.

How the Prius stacks up against other cars

Sure, everybody knows that what you drive affects how much you warm the climate. But after the jump: a chart that proves the point.

Prints: Not Charming

Laser printers can emit high levels of unhealthy small particles, study says Remember how computers were going to usher in the Paperless Office? We so should have done that. An Australian study has found that many laser printers emit high levels of small particles that can be harmful to human health, with the highest-emitting machines […]