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  • Ask Umbra on ditching dirty things

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, What is the greenest way to dispose of pet waste? Scoop and flush, or bag and throw in the trash? Jenifer M.Vienna A. Dearest Jenifer, Flush or toss?The greenest way to dispose of pet waste is to dispose of your pet, I suppose. No pet, no waste! […]

  • Ask Umbra on anti-idling campaigns

    Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My daughter’s Girl Scout troop wants to start an anti-idling campaign at her school. We need help justifying why a car should be turned off for more than 30 seconds. Although they have found that it saves gas and wear and tear on the engine and other […]

  • The courts weigh in: states win critical round in fight to slow global warming

    With all attention focused elsewhere, a key federal court handed climate and clean energy advocates a major surprise victory yesterday.  In the case, State of Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co. [pdf], the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a group of eight states, three land trusts and New York City could sue some […]

  • Big biomass, bigger opposition

    Electric cars powered by the burning of biomass would “average 81% more transportation kilometers and 108% more emissions offsets per unit area cropland than cellulosic ethanol” according to a recent study, and climate science guru James Hansen has declared implementation of biomass crucial to combating climate change, but those endorsements won’t make a bit of […]

  • Cameron Diaz films eco-documentary, takes on role as planet’s publicist

    “How do we make this little planet of ours a big star?” asks actress Cameron Diaz in the cover story of Marie Claire‘s July issue. “The planet needs a publicist.” And this bubbly blonde is just the gal for the job. She’s long been an environmental activist — running around with an MTV video crew […]

  • ‘Clunkers’ debunkers attack Democrats’ auto trade-in plan

    Should the clunkers plan be junked?Support “cash for clunkers” as an auto-industry bailout if you must, but don’t call it green. So say the Wall Street Journal, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, and U.K. environmentalist George Monbiot, all critical of the environmental benefits of the proposal President Barack Obama endorsed yesterday. Obama and […]

  • Failing grades issued for air quality in Seattle, other major cities

    Photo: Peter Davis via FlickrIf Seattle were an 8th grader, she’d probably be grounded right now. And considering the poor scores the city received on its air quality report card (an F for ozone pollution and a C for particulates), it might not be a bad idea if we all stay inside for a while. […]

  • Pollution taxes work

    The Environmental Defense Fund’s Fred Krupp threw down the gauntlet to carbon taxers in the Wall Street Journal last month: Environmental taxes have worked well to raise revenue, but without a cap they inevitably become a license to pollute in unlimited amounts. No air pollution problem has ever been solved except by imposing a legal […]

  • States left wondering about EPA’s greenhouse gas ruling

    Eighteen months ago, I watched the head of the Environmental Protection Administration shake hands with Mickey Mouse after the two had hoisted a compact fluorescent light bulb for a Disneyland photo op. I’d been promised a sit-down interview with Stephen Johnson, the career EPA staffer tapped by George W. Bush in 2005 to run the […]