Climate Technology

Darth Subsidious

Exxon says it won’t dabble in clean energy — too many darn subsidies With oil prices soaring, Exxon is perfectly happy pumping and refining the black stuff, thanks. Despite persistent pressure from shareholder groups and activists, the company says it has no plans to invest in clean energies like solar and wind. You see, solar […]

The environmental movement won’t thrive till it tackles economic development in low-income districts

Growing up in east Los Angeles as the son of Central American immigrants, the everyday challenges faced by the people in my community seemed far removed from the American dream: the lack of good housing and jobs, failing schools, scraping together money for groceries, and all-too-common police brutality. If you had asked us, we would […]

The Blair Pitch Project

Biz leaders urge Blair to act on climate A dozen of Britain’s top business chieftains have sent a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair urging him to get on the ball in the fight against climate change. The heads of BP, Shell, HSBC Bank, and other major companies say global warming is a massive problem […]

The Left Knows What the Right’s Brands Are Doing

Green campaigners target corporations as way to effect change Environmental activists in the U.S., weary of battling with the largely unsympathetic Bush administration, have increasingly been targeting their efforts at other world power brokers — transnational corporations. Their success to date has been fueled by a sort of guerilla advertising — innocuously dubbed “market campaigns” […]

A Bank Slate

Big banks play growing role in curbing eco-destruction Increasingly, green groups are both protesting against and partnering with major financial institutions that have the power to back — or not — environmentally destructive projects. “The private financial sector more than any other has the ability to begin the ecological U-turn modern society so desperately needs,” […]

You’re Turning Into a Real Ditch

Panama Canal threatened by denuded forest watershed Here’s how the Panama Canal works: Torrential downpours batter the country’s forests during rainy season; the water is absorbed into the watershed and feeds steadily into massive, human-made Gatun Lake; the lake then feeds water into the canal. The shipping route thus provided is responsible for some 40 […]

Beleaguered automaker finally starts touting fuel economy

GM -- stung by declining sales of SUVs and subsequently shamed by having its credit ratings lowered to junk status -- is trying a new marketing approach: touting its more fuel-efficient models (such as they are).

A new full-page newspaper ad cries "Meet the 30 and Up Crowd" and showcases "19 cars that have EPA highway estimates of at least 30 miles per gallon."

Too bad it doesn't have a single consumer hybrid model that it can tout on the page. (Its two hybrid trucks top out at 22 mpg.) Sucks to be GM.

Oh What a Feeling!

Toyota to build Camry hybrids at U.S. plant Toyota announced plans yesterday to begin production of a new hybrid Camry model at a Kentucky plant, marking the Japanese automaker’s first foray into hybrid production in North America. With Camry sales tops in the U.S. last year and the company’s hybrid Prius selling used for higher […]

U.S. Companies: Working to Keep Europeans Safe

American firms conforming to E.U. chemical regs Though the U.S. was once a global leader in environmental regulation, that is, to put it mildly, no longer true. Now, the real challenge for many U.S. companies is complying with the stringent standards that govern the European Union market — if they want to reach its 460 […]

Friends With Benefits

Saudi-owned company set to profit from proposed MTBE liability shield OK, kids, follow the bouncing red ball: The Republican energy bill, pending in the Senate, is advertised as a way to gain independence from Saudi Arabian oil (boing!). Part of the energy bill, included at the insistence of Texas Rep. Tom DeLay (R), is a […]