Life in the suburbs.

At the presentations I attended last week, one of the speakers made a comment to the effect of, "everyone wants to go home to their leafy green suburbs."

Needless to say, it really jumped out at me. If everyone wants to go home to their leafy green suburbs, where does that leave cities?

Even if cities are sufficiently leafy green, there's a bigger issue here. It's about individual decision making vs. group decision making. The line of thinking often goes: while it may be fine for me to live in a city instead of a suburb, and deal with some of the resulting inconveniences or grittiness, and bike to work, and only eat (and pay extra for) local, organic food, this isn't really a reasonable thing to expect from other people. In particular, this isn't really a reasonable thing to expect from a potential mate or my offspring.

Logging keeps Asian elephants in business … for now

At a fork in the road, our guide points to the right. “That’s the main road there,” he says. “We’ll...

Joel Makower summarizes the many options for those seeking climate-neutral driving.

You've probably heard about "green tags," whereby businesses -- or events, or rock bands, or whatever -- can offset the carbon emissions of their activities by paying for clean energy credits (debits?). As the preceding sentence (doesn't) make clear, it's not entirely easy to explain exactly what a green tag is, or what it does, or how to get one.

Now a whole host of websites have popped up offering to let you offset your own personal CO2 emissions -- that is, your driving. But the services of said websites work with different figures, cost different amounts, and produce different results. What's a confused, eco-conscious driver to do?

Fear not. Joel Makower has just written a fascinating and comprehensive summary of the whole "climate-neutral driving" schtick. Get thee and read it.

There’s No Place Like Foam

“Coffee-cup home” showcases wood-free construction Nancy Hall was looking for a forest-neutral way to construct a house on her 20...

Seriously, now — why aren’t organics getting affordable?

So you like whole-grain bread, pesticide-free plums, and low-fat meat? Better ask for a raise. A recent study by researchers...

New nominees for top spots at EPA worry enviros

While the green community and the press fixate on the energy bill that’s finally wending its way to President Bush‘s...

Getting through peak oil without disruption seems unlikely.

As I said last week, I'm not sanguine about our prospects in the face of peak oil.

It would be nice if the decline of oil supplies was slow and steady, markets adapted smoothly with the introduction of alternative fuels, and we came in for the much-touted "smooth landing." But those who envision such a scenario drastically underestimate just how delicate a situation we're in. We're trying to get from one side of a chasm (an oil-based economy) to the other (a healthy economy wherein oil is marginal) on a tightrope. While patting our head and rubbing our stomach. And reciting the alphabet backwards. Drunk. On one foot. Etc.

To get a sense of what I mean, consider "Oil Shockwave," a recent wargaming exercise cosponsored by the National Commission on Energy Policy and Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE).

Appeals court rules EPA doesn’t have to regulate CO2 emissions from cars

It’s a simple but powerful question: Does the U.S. EPA have the power — and the obligation — to regulate...

Everything New Is Old Again

Wisconsin power-plant expansion could have long-term eco-consequences The fate of a Wisconsin coal-fired power plant could augur poorly for the...