Extinctions, that is

I know I've been all over Mongabay lately, but there's just so much good stuff there. First on the list is a longish article about a study in Biotropica, which suggests that instead of losing up to seventy-five percent of our biodiversity as many scientists fear, we may only lose twenty, maybe thirty percent tops. However, there are no guarantees that come with the study. The optimistic figures, if you can call them that, are largely the result of declining rural populations and the subsistence farming that goes with it. In short, saving much of our biodiversity hinges on continued urbanization. Grab a beer and go read it.

Chow Pain

Faced with contaminated food, Chinese shoppers pony up for organics Got a hankering for lard made from sewage and industrial...

Sixty-Two and You

U.S. EPA places limits on carcinogenic benzene in gasoline Late last week, the U.S. EPA announced a new rule that...

Coal is still the enemy of the human race

When I talked to Rep. Jay Inslee, he specifically asked me to emphasize to readers the distinction between coal gasification...

Farming for fuel will drive up the cost of your favorite brew

According to this story in the Financial Times, strong demand for biofuel feedstocks such as corn, soybeans, and oilseed rape (canola) is encouraging farmers to plant these crops instead of barley, driving up its price.

And what is barley a key ingredient of? Beer.

A visual history of the industry

Avast, me hearties! Seems the landlubbers ’round here have it in for me column. But I refuse to Arrr. I....

The scoop on the new IPCC climate-change report

What is the IPCC, and what’s the deal with its new report? When climate change emerged as an important environmental...

Over global warming, of all things

As you’re probably aware, the old guard of the conservative evangelical movement has lashed out against the new guard over...

Creation care idea is spreading

Jehovah's Witnesses. Two of them just knocked on my door. I mention it because they had a brochure detailing their version of "creation care." I told them I was happy to see more Christian sects beginning to interpret Bible passages in an environmentally positive manner. "Oh no," they assured me. "We aren't environmentalists."