Climate Technology
All Stories
-
Why Does Oklahoma Want To Drown New York?
As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began hearings on carbon regulation, debate ran along traditional battle lines, but with a new script. Democrats Barbara Boxer (CA) and John Kerry (MA) moved away from discussing the environmental impacts of climate change – – and the reason, therefore, to take action to reduce carbon emissions […]
-
![]()
![]()
Cleantech Open winners get it done quick and cheap
The annual California Cleantech Open startup competition is always a fun event to attend, because you just might be present for the debut of the Google of green energy or the General Motors of electric cars. Beyond that, the competition serves as a leading indicator of emerging green tech trends. And given that the Silicon […]
-
Paterson’s Bold Carbon Gamble
California’s state budget gap was about $40 billion this year. New York’s some $50 billion. Every state in the Union is struggling with drastically lower revenues and higher costs for services of every kind, washing state capitals with red ink. At the polls next year, governors who are facing elections – – including Governor David […]
-
How the green economy can help low income women
This past week Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress released a seminal report on the emergence of women as primary wage earners for millions of families. The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything, marks a promising step forward in the evolution of a society that for too long has failed to adjust […]
-
Performance anxiety
It’s not just the ads showing a baby-boomer couple sitting in matching bathtubs on a beach at sunset where you can find performance anxiety these days. Try looking in the hardware aisle and at the gas station. Rather than ban inefficient incandescent light bulbs, for example, California lawmakers set an efficiency performance standard — which […]
-
![]()
![]()
Green-biz pioneer Ray Anderson says sustainability literally pays for itself
Ray Anderson set out to make his business sustainable long before green was the flavor of the month. Reading Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce in 1994 literally changed his life, inspiring him to overhaul his carpet company, Interface, and aim for zero waste and zero environmental impact. Now, with his new book Confessions of […]
-
You can only manage what you measure
A decade ago, health-conscious consumers forced manufacturers to list nutritional information on food packages. We’ll soon be able to make buying decisions based on carbon content too - - taming our waistlines and “waste lines†at the same time.
-
A new direction on research at the USDA?
Last week, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave a speech on the role of research at the USDA at the launch of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the research arm of that agency formerly referred to as the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). Vilsack had this to say in […]
-
![]()
![]()
Paging Dr. Chu, venture capitalist
Silicon Valley is by nature an optimistic place. After all, inventing the carbon-free future and making boatloads of money along the way is fun. And even though California is slouching toward apocalyptic collapse these days, there’s always another innovation wave to ride. In Chu We Trust? It may take big bucks from the U.S. Dept. […]
-
![]()
![]()
Richard Wiswall on the business of organic farming
With the economic downturn and increase in the desire for a relationship with our food, farming has become a popular lifestyle among young people opting out of the corporate world. And while these people are new to life on the land, others have made a life of it for generations. But either way, growing food […]
