Climate Energy
All Stories
-
Taking the suits to the street and protesting Keystone XL
I'm a behind-the-scenes climate activist who decided it's time to trade emails and meetings for front-line action against the tar-sands pipeline.
-
Why I’m marching against the tar-sands pipeline
A lifelong union member, I'm protesting the tar-sands pipeline because if labor is to have a sustainable future, it must be as a central player in the sustainability movement.
-
How to avoid a train wreck: replacing coal with energy efficiency
Utility regulations don't have to mean higher rates for consumers. Investments that enhance communities by creating more efficient, modern infrastructure result in more jobs and a more robust economy, at a fraction of the cost of upgrading old coal plants
-
Daryl Hannah joins tar-sands protest
It can be mildly annoying when movie stars get activist, because it usually just means looking sincere while wearing the ribbon color of the day. Which is why it's kind of cool that Daryl Hannah, who has never really stopped defending the environment since she came out of the ocean in 1984, is headed down to the Keystone XL protests where people are being arrested left and right.
-
One thing the fall of Tripoli won't get us is cheap gas
It would be natural to imagine that the fall of Tripoli would mean a significant decrease in the cost of oil and the pain that the average consumer feels at the pump. After all, in February, when unrest in Libya commenced, oil prices hit a two-year high. Libya is only the 15th biggest oil exporter in the world, but the oil it exports is of a particularly desirable type.
-
Tar-sands pipeline 'safety conditions' are smoke and mirrors
Hillary Clinton gives TransCanada props for agreeing to 57 conditions, which are really just a hodgepodge of current regulations and red herrings.
-
Teenage genius improves solar panels using math and trees
You gotta heart teenage geniuses: this one, Aidan Dwyer, age 13, figured out a way to make solar panel arrays more efficient after taking a walk in the woods. Here is his basic thought-process, broken down for us non-geniuses:
-
Solar PV makes most sense at modest size
Benefits of smaller-scale solar operations far outweigh any potential savings from building bigger.
-
TransCanada says Keystone XL will be ‘safest pipeline in the U.S.’
The existing pipeline has seen 12 spills in one year, but the company reassures citizens that Keystone XL will operate with a "high degree of safety."
-
Bachmann promises $2 gas, unicorns
When I was in the fourth grade I took a lot of crap for not voting for Ty for class president, because he said he would give us double recess and free ice cream. I found those claims doubtful, and also Ty was kind of a dick, so I didn't vote for him, but everyone else did and they made fun of me. What I'm saying is, if you believe Michele Bachmann's claim that she can get gas back under $2 a gallon, then you should break out your Bieber tee and your juice box, because you are essentially an eight-year-old with a peer pressure problem. And you're going to be waiting a long time for that ice cream.