Climate Technology

Norway disallows manufacturers from advertising cars as “green”

We’ve got a thing for Norway — really, nothing beats a good fjord. And nobody can literalize like the Norwegians, who next month will begin prohibiting automobile manufacturers from advertising their vehicles as “green,” “clean,” or “environmentally friendly.” Says one national official, “If someone says their car is more ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ than others […]

Wal-Mart’s eco-initiatives turning Arkansas into sustainability hotspot

Attention shoppers: we bring you news of the latest sustainability hotspot, none other than Fayetteville, Ark. Green start-ups are flocking to town, the University of Arkansas has established an Applied Sustainability Center, and the mayor rides an electric bike to work. Why? Because of a certain retail giant whose headquarters lies half an hour away. […]

Coca-Cola announces big recycling initiatives

Speaking around gulps of carbonated, corn-syrupy beverage, Coca-Cola executives announced two environmental initiatives this week. By next year, the company plans to redesign its 20-ounce bottle to use 5 percent less plastic, and will open a gigantic recycling plant in South Carolina. Coca-Cola currently recycles or reuses about 10 percent of its U.S.-sold plastic bottles; […]

Washington state caps the cost to pollute, rather than the pollution

The Sightline Institute (formerly Northwest Environment Watch) picks up a Seattle P-I report on yet another counterproductive incentive: making it cheaper to pollute in bulk.

The more hazardous waste you produce in Washington, the better the deal you can get from the state. Companies that make chemicals, oil, paint, paper and airplanes must pay a Hazardous Waste Planning Fee for the toxic substances that they pump into the air and water or send to landfills. But because the fee is capped, the top five producers pay less than $8 a ton for their dangerous waste, whereas companies producing smaller amounts can pay up to $250 a ton.

The high price of electricity deregulation

In David Cay Johnston's NYT article "A New Push to Regulate Power Costs," he writes about the fact that many states are rolling back their deregulatory initiatives. The main reason, he says, is price.

Ahh, price. That magic number at the nexus of supply and demand. The problem with price in electricity markets is that it is not determined by supply and demand, as in a free, deregulated market -- even in those states where there was, supposedly, deregulation.

In fact, we've long argued that deregulatory initiatives, as they were designed and implemented, had nothing to do with what most people understand as "deregulation" at all. Johnston points out that retail price controls, artificially induced competition on the wholesale side, and same old-same same-old metering does not a free market make. As Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute says, "Just calling something a market does not make it a market."

ConAgra: No more toxic fake butter

Clearly not responding to my post from yesterday — but rather to steady pressure from the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy and other groups — ConAgra announced it would stop using diacetyl in its Orville Redenbacher and Act II microwave popcorn brands. Diacetyl, a fake butter flavoring, has been known for years to […]

A review of Peter Barnes’ Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons

Peter Barnes' Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons (also available as a free PDF at Barnes' site) suggests that flaws in capitalism lie at the root of the environmental and social problems we face today; his solution, as a retired corporate CEO, is not to discard capitalism, but fix those flaws.

Mattel recalls another batch of lead-painted toys

Toy giant Mattel on Tuesday issued its third round of major recalls in recent weeks for a variety of its toys that contained “impermissible levels of lead,” according to the company, including some Barbie play sets and Fisher-Price toys. In all, the most recent round of recalls covers some 840,000 items. “We’ve worked very hard […]

An eco-emporium for the faithful

Interfaith Power and Light, an organization dedicated to a "religious response to global warming," has just launched an online store, ShopIPL.org, where religious institutions, people of faith, and freeloading atheists can go to buy energy-efficient lighting, solar cookers, and other environmentally friendly gizmos for house and church alike.

How globalization is smothering U.S. fruit and vegetable farms

Earlier this month, President Bush roiled U.S. vegetable farmers by announcing a crackdown on undocumented workers. Last week, industrial-meat giant Smithfield Foods goosed the hog-futures market by inking a deal to export 60 million pounds of U.S.-grown pork to China. These events, unrelated though they seem, illustrate a common point: that despite all the recent […]