Climate Technology

Put a Liar in Your Tank

White House official who edited climate reports moves to Exxon Philip Cooney, the White House official (and former oil-industry lobbyist) recently outed for watering down government climate-change reports, has left his position in the Bush administration to take a new job at … wait for it … ExxonMobil. Now, we know what you’re thinking, but […]

Going down with the ship

Lee Raymond, chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, has decided that global warming is bunk and that his company is not going to waste time or money funding renewable energy.

Openly and unapologetically, the world's No. 1 oil company disputes the notion that fossil fuels are the main cause of global warming. Along with the Bush administration, Exxon opposes the Kyoto accord and the very idea of capping global-warming emissions. Congress is debating an energy bill that may be amended to include a cap, but the administration and Exxon say the costs would be huge and the benefits uncertain. Exxon also contributes money to think tanks and other groups that agree with its stance.

You kinda have to admire the guy:

"We're not playing the issue. I'm not sure I can say that about others," Lee Raymond, Exxon's chairman and chief executive, said in a recent interview at Exxon headquarters in Irving, Texas. "I get this question a lot of times: 'Why don't you just go spend $50 million on solar cells? Charge it off to the public-affairs budget and just say it's like another dry hole?' The answer is: That's not the way we do things."

At least he's not fudging.

Chicago Climate Exchange paves the way for U.S. emissions trading

Forget the feds — we’ll make our own deals. The Oakland airport seems perfectly situated. Unlike many urban airports, which require an expensive taxi trip or hour-long train ride to reach the city where you thought you’d just arrived, downtown lies mere minutes away. Such convenience is possible because the runways sit on a former […]

If the Suit Fits, Wear It

BT and other multinationals call for action on climate change More and more prominent suits are issuing calls to action on global warming. The latest is Ben Verwaayen, chief exec of U.K. telecom company BT, who this week became the first Brit corporate bigwig to say publicly that climate change is hurting his business — […]

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish Nets

Changes in fishing gear could save thousands of cetaceans a year Low-cost changes to commercial fishing gear could prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of whales, porpoises, and dolphins every year, according to the World Wildlife Fund. About 1,000 cetaceans drown every day after becoming entangled in fishing nets, primarily gillnets, which are hard […]

Creating an Aquaculture of Life

Bush admin proposes massive U.S. aquaculture expansion Just in time to celebrate World Oceans Day (happy WOD, by the way!), the Bush administration has unveiled a plan to open up 3.4 million square miles of U.S. coastal waters to aquaculture. Demand by hungry humans for seafood is expected to reach about 121 million tons in […]

I Will Singh, Singh a New Song

To feed energy demand, India gets friendly with old adversaries India’s foreign policy, like that of most every major economic power, is increasingly driven by its need for oil. The globe’s fifth-largest consumer economy, India already imports 70 percent of its oil, and energy demand is expected to nearly double from 2002 levels by 2030. […]

Foreign corporations spend big to influence U.S. environmental law

Cold, hard, foreign cash. Lobbying has become as much a part of American culture as apple pie, blue jeans, and monster trucks, but it’s not just U.S. companies playing the game. Increasingly, foreign corporations are spending big bucks to push their interests in Washington, D.C., many with the intent of weakening environmental protections — from […]

Are corporations hog-tying conservation groups in CAFTA fight?

Macaws and effect in Central America. A year ago, President Bush signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Since then, the controversial plan has inspired protests across the U.S. and in Central America. And while past trade agreements have been ratified by Congress in less than two months, the Bush administration has delayed the vote […]

You Take ’em Both, and There You Have … Um, Stapleton

Denver neighborhood on former airport site exemplifies “new urbanism” A new mixed-use development in Denver, built on the former site of Stapleton International Airport, is being touted as a model of “new urbanism.” Stapleton’s homes are situated close together, with garages in back and porches in front, creating walkable neighborhoods, and plenty of open space […]