Climate Technology

Environmental funders share blame for movement’s weak pulse

In responding to “The Death of Environmentalism,” activist Ken Ward writes, “If the future toward which we rush is folly, the solution proposed by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus is foolishness.” In this excerpt from his full rebuttal to the essay, Ward describes the role environmental foundations play in frustrating effective campaigning, and suggests that […]

Post No Bills

Eco-activists arrested for protesting near bank chief’s home Three activists with the Rainforest Action Network were arrested and fined earlier this month after posting signs on telephone poles and trees near the home of J.P. Morgan Chase CEO William Harrison. Designed to look like Old West “wanted” posters, the fliers read “Wanted — William ‘Billy […]

Author and oil-spill expert Riki Ott answers questions

Riki Ott. What work do you do? What’s your job title? For the past seven years — 1998 to 2004 — I researched and wrote a book, Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Now I’m an author/activist/scientist on book tour. Titles: Well, I have been bestowed numerous titles […]

The Prices’ Height

Market notices that natural resources are shrinking fast While some folks in political circles still like to pretend that natural resources are endless, global financial markets aren’t, uh, buying it. Commodity prices recently hit a 24-year high, driven by worries that burgeoning global demand is rapidly outstripping supply. We’ll try to spare you most of […]

Looking for Some Good Cowboys

Blair bypasses Bush, appeals to Texas for global-warming aid British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s quixotic mission to convert the Bush administration from staunch believers in “more research” on global warming to actual movers on the issue has thus far proved unsuccessful. So Blair is diversifying his strategy. One tactic is to bypass the decision maker […]

The Cradle-to-Cradle Will Rock

Smart, eco-friendly design making inroads in the business community The seminal 2002 book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart, inspired a slogan for 21st century designers: “Pollution is a symbol of design failure.” They proposed that every material used in manufacturing should be capable […]

Consider this

Oft-villified sneaker behemoth Nike has introduced five new styles that tread a little lighter on the earth. Part of a new line called Nike Considered, the casual shoes and boots are part of the company's effort to examine ways to reduce waste, eliminate toxic substances, and follow their image consultants' advice to atone for that whole small-children-working-in-sweatshops-in-foreign-countries thing:

Among other changes, the Nike Considered shoes are largely made with materials found within 200 miles of the factory, to cut down on fuel consumption in transporting them. The leather comes from a tannery that recycles wastewater to ensure that no toxins are released into the environment, and it is pigmented using vegetable dyes. Hemp and polyester are used to make the shoe's woven upper and shoelaces. The midsole is cut to lock into the outer sole, lessening the need for adhesives in constructing the shoe. The shoe's outer sole includes recycled rubber.

Whole Foods

Readers who found our interview with John Mackey, founder and CEO of Whole Foods, interesting, may also be interested in this Forbes story on Whole Foods, which focuses on the "food-as-porn" marketing and business strategy of the growing (mostly) organic giant.

(Via Green Life)

The Loan Arranger

U.S. plans to subsidize four new Chinese nuke plants A nearly $5 billion proposed loan package from the U.S. government to British-owned Westinghouse Electric Corp. to build four massive nuclear reactors in China is encountering a flurry of objections. The objections are not about the nuclear waste that would result, or reactors’ vulnerability to terrorist […]

Four emerging environmental leaders discuss the future of their field

To continue the conversation about the ostensible “death of environmentalism,” we invited four next-generation leaders to discuss the issue with one another via email. Herewith, in almost real time, we are publishing their thoughts in our pages. All the participants are fellows with the Environmental Leadership Program, which works with emerging activists and professionals to […]