How high a price on carbon is needed to make renewables competitive?

I’ve argued before that electricity cost comparisons are, in Walt Patterson’s memorable phrase, "an artifact of prior decisions otherwise concealed"...

Why has Gore suddenly left the country?

There’s been some blogospheric buzz over this item on the San Fran Chronicle blog. Al Gore was going to appear...

Six tons of fish soup in Russia, 500 tons of pee in the Pacific

Investigators found that fisherman caught twice their legal quota of bluefin tuna in European waters this year, despite an early closure to the season due to the stocks' precipitous decline ...

... a trout farm in Nova Scotia was torn apart by Tropical Storm Noel, freeing an estimated 500,000 fish and causing $1 million in damages ...

... endangered humpback and fin whales swam hundreds of miles north of their usual habitats in search of colder waters. "All signs point to global warming," said an advocate ...

... Korean scientists successfully transported a live flatfish out of water for a 20-hour transatlantic flight to Los Angeles. The fish went into an induced hibernation inside a plastic bag ...

... an Australian company was planning to use 500 tons of industrial urea in a bid to promote plankton growth in the Pacific. The company preferred the term "nutrient injection" to "dumping" ...

No carbon reduction program is a silver bullet

Something about NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg’s arguments for a carbon tax struck me as a little too glib, too pat....

Is the analogy between climate change and Hitler’s atrocities appropriate?

Andy Revkin has an interesting post on Dot Earth about global warming and Holocaust analogies. On Oct. 22, climate scientist...

Umbra on fireplace ashes

Dear Umbra, What should we do with ashes from the fireplace? I’ve heard that they’re great for the garden and...

Should Gore get arrested protesting coal?

It’s a little sketchily sourced, but according to Mark Hertsgaard Al Gore is “considering” joining the Rainforest Action Network in...

As climate conference kicks off, defenses are up

When I visited Bali 20 years ago, the beaches teemed with people offering any manner of products and services, and...

The ear as an underutilized data input port

I've been experimenting with audiobooks, not only because they may one day replace the tree-eating variety, but also because I like the idea of listening to a book while performing other less entertaining tasks. Meetings fit that definition but turn out not to be good candidates for other reasons.

My brain has two main data input ports: my ears and eyes. Of the two, my ears seem to be the least utilized. However, I didn't know if I could listen to a book and chew gum at the same time so I decided to test the idea out before I made a significant investment. I visited my public library's audiobook section to see what books are available and in what format.

It turns out that finding a device that will play them is much more difficult than it should be.