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BP gets proverbial a** kicking from funny men
Since the oil keeps spilling in the Gulf of Mexico and there’s still not much you and I can do, it seems for now that laughter is the best solution. Yep, that’s pathetic. But this isn’t just a laugh for laughter’s sake. This satire is social commentary in its highest incarnation. Jon Stewart and Stephen […]
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BP gears up to win over Washington and the rest of us
A BP trash bag — not quite big enough to contain its mess.Photo: abrahamhyat via FlickrA little less than a month ago, back before he was madly tripping over his tongue, BP CEO Tony Hayward was sounding almost inspirational as he channeled Winston Churchill: “We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts, in […]
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Hold Your Breath and Sell BP
I am very cautious about giving investment advice and downright reluctant to just pile onto the media frenzy attacking BP for its blunders in the Gulf of Mexico. That said, I feel compelled to warn America about the greater disaster that looms ahead for anyone who owns BP stock or anyone east of the Mississippi […]
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The oil spill’s challenge to corporate sustainability
I generally don’t write much about big business, but in light of the implosion of BP’s “green” oil company image — it’s looking more Exxon than eco these days — I went to a dinner Monday night in San Francisco attended by dozens of Fortune 500 executives committed to corporate sustainability. (There were reportedly a […]
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BP should be like Newman’s Own
After the BP Gulf disaster is ancient history, I want that company to thrive. I want it to be vastly more profitable than ExxonMobil. It should continue exploration and drilling all over the world, including offshore. And I’m asking for just one broad change in how the company operates: BP should donate all its profits for the […]
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VIDEO: Is Gulf seafood safe to eat after oil spill?
New Orleans is world-famous for its seafood, but the Gulf Coast oil spill has left the future of the industry and those who rely on it for their livelihoods in jeopardy as fishing grounds close and diners fear for the safety of their meals. In this video, OnEarth magazine examines the impact of the Deepwater […]
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Snapshots of the ‘tough oil’ era
There are vigorous debates about when we reached, or will soon reach, peak oil, the stage at which we’ve used more of the planet’s oil than we have left in supply. But it’s plenty clear that we’re deep into the age of tough oil, in which the most easily accessible oil has long since been […]
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IEA stunner: global subsidies to dirty energy top $550 billion a year
File this one under “news that ought to be the top headline across the world but will likely be ignored.” An early draft of a comprehensive new study from the International Energy Agency reveals that total global subsidies to dirty fossil-fuel energy amount to $550 billion a year — about 75 percent more than previously […]
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How food micro-entrepreneurs nourish cities
In her book The Economy of Cities, the great urban theorist Jane Jacobs praised what she called the “valuable inefficiencies and impracticalities of cities.” To explain her point, she invited readers to consider two examples from 19th century England: Manchester and Birmingham — or as she put it, “Efficient Manchester” and “Inefficient Birmingham.” As I […]
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The little black box that could save both lives and fuel
I recently took the Chevrolet Volt for a spin near San Francisco’s ballpark, checking another item off my electric-car life list. (Getting to drive pre-production EVs is one fringe benefit of covering green tech.) Then the other week, I took a drive in another car that promised to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. The car […]
