China

Critical List: U.S. solar files complaint against China; crayon sculpture melts in Texas heat

American solar companies filed a trade complaint against China for dumping cheap solar panels in the U.S. market.

California could pass cap-and-trade.

Adrian Grenier from Entourage is opening a pop-up gallery in L.A. that focuses on sustainable living.

Are we in a solar trade war with China?

Concerns about China's support of domestic solar companies have been brewing for years. But they have finally come to a boiling point -- and it's causing some in the solar industry to feel burned.

Conservatives want to end support for America's fastest growing industry

In these grim economic times, one U.S. industry has defied gravity. It employs 100,000 Americans at 5,000 mostly small businesses in all 50 states. And it's wildly popular with the American public -- but not with Republicans in Congress.

Huge, polluting container ships that carry all our stuff clean up their act

Everyone knows that our iPads, clothes, kitchen appliances, furniture—our entire lives, basically—are made in China. But everyone might not know the container ships that bring that stuff over to the U.S. are climate-destroying juggernauts. According to OnEarth, just one container ship emits as much sulfur oxide (the stuff that makes smog) per year as 50 million cars. Plus, shipping accounts for 3.5 percent of all GHG emissions, twice as much as aviation.

The good news is that air pollution rules are pushing container shipping companies to clean up their act.

Critical List: Texas drought creating baby animal shortage; Keystone XL doc on Oscar shortlist

The Texas drought has meant fewer births of adorable baby animals. Maybe the new climate lobby can include all of the internet.

Also joining the climate fight: yuppies and freelancers. Starbucks is worried about the future of its business model, as rising temperatures threaten coffee crops.

Democrats aren't the only ones who back clean energy projects that don't end up saving the world. Orrin Hatch, for instance, backed a company trying to develop a hybrid Hummer, which collapsed under the weight of its own irony.

China wants to dominate the global wind-turbine market, as well as the solar market.

Critical List: Australia inches from passing a carbon tax; Rick Perry’s secret economic sauce

Australia's carbon tax bill passed its lower House by a thin majority; it should easily pass the Senate and make it into law.

An oil cleanup contest awarded $1 million to the winning Team Elastec/American Marine, which soaked up 4,670 gallons of oil per minute and got to 89.5 percent of the oil, on average.

China is going to tax the hell out of oil and gas and reinvest the money in nuclear reactors and wind farms.

Critical List: Perry not afraid to sound like an idiot; Koch Industries trading with Iran

"I'm not afraid to say I'm a skeptic about [climate change]." -- Rick Perry, ladies and gentlemen. So fearless.

A Bloomberg investigation found that Koch Industries has paid bribes to obtain contracts and sold Iran petrochemical equipment, in violation of the U.S. trade ban.

Trees are nice. Probably not a great idea to destroy them all.

If you have an electric toothbrush, extra-large fridge, laptop, iPad, iPhone, multiple flat screen TVs, a flat screen monitor, and god knows what else -- you're killing us here!

Change GDP, change the world

What if social and political change -- changes in government policy, cultural norms -- can do for demand what technological change can do for supply?

China may emit more carbon per person than U.S. by 2017

China is now the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, but its per-capita emissions are still less than those of the average U.S. citizen. In six years, that could flip, says a new report from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency that was sponsored by the European Commission. Current U.S. per-capita emissions are 16.9 […]