Climate Culture

Wouldn’t it be great if Beijing did pull off a green Olympics?

Along with some guy named Al Gore, Olympics chief Jacques Rogge has been honored with an award by the United Nations for being an environmental enforcer. Good on ya, Jacques! (Perhaps he was behind the fancy sewer heating system in Vancouver?) The next Olympics hurtling our way is Beijing 2008, and apparently the International Olympic […]

Check your local listings

All the magazines have gone to press with what's become their annual Green Issue. And now TV is in on the act.

MTV has a special Earth Day edition of Pimp My Ride: they take a '65 Impala, put in a 800 hp diesel engine, fill the tank with biodiesel, and race it against a Lamborghini. My money is on the Impala. Cameo by Governor Schwarzenegger, check local listings (April 22). While this isn't exactly a recipe for sustainability, that's not really the point, either. Everyone should work to their strengths, and if MTV can make it sexy to get the kids involved, all the better.

PBS is airing a NOVA special titled "Saved by the Sun," which asks the provocative question: "Is it time to take solar seriously?" Yes, is the answer. It features a hero of mine, Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates, who built the first solar powered neighborhood in 1984, put what was then the world's largest solar system on the roof of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and is now designing a solar system for the SF Giants baseball stadium. He has been doing this longer and better than anyone else in the business and fully deserves his day in the sun. Ahem. April 24, generally 8 PM on your local PBS station, check local listings.

Amazon encourages its customers to buy green

Ah, Earth Day. What could be a better way to celebrate our planet than buying more stuff and then having it shipped halfway across the country?

Regardless of what you may think of the online behemoth, Amazon.com should get some credit for prominently promoting its Earth Day store on its home page for the last week. And if their customers are going to buy things, it might as well be green things, right?

In their "10 Ways You Can Help the Environment" they suggest buying CFLs (of course), a bike, a programmable digital tire gauge (for better fuel efficiency), a battery recharger and rechargeable batteries, and the must-have for every eco-shopper: a canvas bag. There's more, but no where near as comprehensive as the Grist store (powered by, ahem, Amazon.com), where your favorite online environmental news site earns a percentage of every purchase.

Amazon has also begun tagging some of their blog posts with "Green Life" and "Healthnut" and have been writing about Grist's Earth Day dinners article, CFLs (again), green PCs, and organic chocolate. And Doug informs us that for each purchase of An Inconvenient Truth on Earth Day, one school in the U.S. or Canada will get a copy donated. (But will they be able to watch it?)

But if you really want to be green and buy a DVD, check out Amazon's Unbox Video Download service, which allows you to buy or rent from a large assortment of movies and TV shows, and watch them on your computer (legally), including: An Inconvenient Truth, Who Killed the Electric Car? and Fast Food Nation.

Students ask candidates the tough questions

Starting this weekend, students across the country will begin accosting politely approaching presidential candidates and asking them to share their plans on global warming. The effort is part of a new national campaign called "What’s Your Plan?" by The Student PIRGs and a coalition of other eco-groups. Their hope is that by trailing the candidates […]

Willy Wonka would be pissed

The FDA is thinking about allowing Big Chocolate to pass off waxy imitations as the real deal:

Some of the funniest stuff I’ve seen in a long time

Remember that wacky Federal Way, Wash. father who opposed showing An Inconvenient Truth in public schools? ("Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore!") Well, he's back, and on the Daily Show:

On the latest eco-conscious denim trends and events

"Who are the big, fat, tall people that buy the jeans we make?"

That's the question that Jasmine, 16, innocently asks in Micha Peled's documentary China Blue, a clandestine view of three girls' lives in a Chinese sweatshop. I felt pretty embarrassed watching Jasmine cut the threads off our blue jeans during her 20-hour workday. It's the same Catholic schoolgirl guilt you get when the burly, bearded dude walks in on you because the gas station's bathroom lock is broken, or when your parents or roommate come home when they just weren't supposed to. Once again, we've been caught with our pants down.

But this time, we're participating in one of the largest human-rights abuses of all time. Which makes denim a damn good product around which to strike up a conversation about social issues.

Sorry, trusty Blue Jeans. You know I love you. You've been there for me through all occasions -- my birthdays, my late-night outings, my first kiss, my first break-up ... When I don't know what to wear, you're there for me ... but now, it's time to hang you out to dry ... if only to make a point.

From Betting to Böögg

We’ll see your catastrophe and raise you an apocalypse Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets: An online gambling service is offering a whole new way to get screwed by climate change. Looking for better payoff? Put some greenbacks on the leatherbacks; we’re all-in on Colburtle. Photo: iStockphoto Every day is Earth Day — especially Sunday […]

Tunnels everywhere!

First a train tunnel between Africa and Europe, now the Russians want to build the long-dreamt-of tunnel between Russia and Alaska. The tunnel would theoretically carry natural gas, oil, electricity, and fiber-optic wires.

The more and better tunnels we have for rail, the more competitive rail will be with less efficient transport systems like air travel. This is better for energy efficiency and therefore the environment.

This project still has a lot of problems -- it's not like there's a lot of spare rail up above the Arctic Circle, necessitating lots of construction -- but I'm sure Ted Stevens is already salivating.

It’s descended completely into ‘small steps’

When I read stuff like this … A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that more Americans than ever — 60%, up from 48% a decade ago — believe that global warming has begun to affect the climate. A slightly larger percentage think it will cause major or extreme changes in climate and weather during the next […]