innovation
-
Bill Gates’ blind spots
So right, and yet so not-quite-rightPhoto: Suzie KatzWhen Bill Gates first jumped into the energy discussion with a big TED talk, I wrote a post called “Why Bill Gates is wrong.” In retrospect, I should have been a bit more diplomatic. I should have started with a post called “Why it’s super-fantastic that someone as […]
-
Bill Gates on energy philanthropy, R&D funding, & why the U.S. will out-innovate China
Bill Gates goes casual at the Climate Solutions breakfast.Photo: nonfictionmediaThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — the richest in the world, with an endowment of $37 billion — doesn’t have plans to focus on clean energy and climate change, Bill Gates said on Tuesday. Speaking at a fundraiser for Northwest nonprofit Climate Solutions, he argued […]
-
Dr. Grist’s four-part prescription for managing climate change
Dr. Grist fills in the blanks.We are not going to solve climate change. That’s not pessimism — it’s just not the kind of thing that can be “solved.” It’s already underway. There’s enough carbon stocked in the atmosphere to keep the temperature going up for decades even if we cease polluting entirely, which isn’t going […]
-
Car parts made out of mushrooms will — wait, what?
Man, is there anything mushrooms can’t do? They make a damn fine fake meat, they make Mario bigger, caterpillars smoke hookahs on them, the whole nine yards. And now, thanks to a company called Ecovative, they can be used to replace styrofoam in some of Earth’s most persistent enemies: packing materials and car parts. The […]
-
Obama’s climate omission: Can we disagree on climate and win on clean energy?
President Obama’s exclusion of “climate change” from the State of the Union has sparked wide debate across the climate movement.
-
Obama’s climate omission: Can we disagree on climate and win on clean energy?
President Obama’s exclusion of “climate change” from the State of the Union has sparked wide debate across the climate movement.
-
For the last time: no, clean energy is not a substitute for climate change
I was going to let this go after my last post, but it keeps coming up in email and on Twitter: "Obama talked about clean energy. Isn't that equivalent to and/or a substitute for talking about climate change?" And the Inventioneers are writing characteristically smug posts congratulating themselves for winning the future. So it looks like I need to take one more run at this.
-
House Republicans seek cuts to Energy Star, weatherization, advanced energy research, puppies
The Republicans' Spending Reduction Act would chop funding for Energy Star, transit, organic programs, energy research, and family planning.
-
Cups made of Jell-O are the unnecessary product du jour
Today in why-is-this-thing-real news, we have party cups made of Jell-O.