Climate Technology
All Stories
-
Love Hurts
Worries over ecotourism on the rise Ecotourism and its more profit-centric cousin nature tourism make up about 20 percent of international tourist travel. These two sectors are growing by 10 to 30 percent a year, and generate hundreds of billions of dollars — money that often helps the ecosystems being toured, not to mention local […]
-
Mad Props, Yo
California approves measure to block citizen lawsuits against businesses By a significant margin, California voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 64, which curtails the right of private citizens and public-interest groups to bring legal action against companies under the state’s Unfair Business Competition Law — a move that could hamper efforts to protect the state’s environment. […]
-
Thank Your Lucky Starbucks
Starbucks chief pushes for fair-trade, eco-friendly coffee Starbucks has served as a convenient target for the anti-globalization crowd, especially given that you can’t throw a brick in some neighborhoods without breaking a Starbucks window. But CEO Orin Smith is fighting back against the company’s bad reputation. He recently announced that, by 2007, Starbucks would attempt […]
-
Dole-ing Out Favors
A lobbying success story, from the maker of atrazine The manufacturer of atrazine, an herbicide connected by studies to frog deformities and increased risk of prostate cancer in humans, spent $260,000 lobbying the U.S. EPA and other government bodies on behalf of the chemical. Not only that, but Syngenta Crop Protection enlisted the formidable lobbying […]
-
A green financial expert dishes up election-related investment tips
Matt Patsky knows his green. As the election looms, green-investing guru Matt Patsky has joined the political fray, making the radio talk show rounds to tell investors and voters why another Bush presidency will not only be bad news for the environment but also a disaster for the market. Patsky is the portfolio manager for […]
-
The Price Is Finally Right
High oil prices raise interest in renewables, and this time it may stick Whenever the price of oil spikes, interest in renewable energy spikes along with it — but despite the perpetual hopes of advocates, interest recedes as prices go back down. This time, though, as oil tops $55 a barrel, it may be different. […]
-
It’s All About the Benjamins
Neglect of clean energy hurts economy as well as environment The lack of aggressive clean-energy policies at the federal level is taking its toll on the U.S. economy. As recently as a decade ago, U.S. companies claimed 50 percent of the market for solar photovoltaic panels, but now that number is down to 10 percent, […]
-
Tennessee Faults
Conservationists use market to save Cumberland Plateau hardwood forests The 19.4 million acres that comprise the Cumberland Plateau and surrounding mountains in the southeastern U.S. contain more threatened and endangered species than any ecosystem in the country outside California’s Central Valley. But the hardwood forests that cover the area are rapidly being clearcut and replaced […]
-
That’s the Story of the Hurricane
Global warming could intensify hurricanes, some climate experts say After this year’s unusually devastating hurricane season, many folks who study hurricanes were quick to reassure the public (and Congress) that normal climatic fluctuations, not global warming, were to blame. But at a press conference yesterday, a group of climatologists, including several present and past members […]
-
An interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard, world-class mountaineer, diehard surfer, obsessive fly fisher — oh yes, and founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc. — is as famous for his brio and gutsy outdoorsmanship as he is for his visionary business strategy. A Maine-born blacksmith, Chouinard has built Patagonia, a purveyor of top-quality outdoor goods, into a $230 million company […]
