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Michelle Nijhuhis reviews Power to the People by Vijay Vaitheeswaran
Just before Thanksgiving, Senate Democrats (with the aid of a few Republicans) stymied the massive national energy bill, guaranteeing that debate on the measure would drag into an election year -- and significantly reducing its chance of passing. The setback surprised some observers because the bill, which currently weighs in at just under 1,200 pages, was carefully designed by congressional leaders for maximum political appeal: Its ethanol subsidies tempted farm-state Democrats, while renewable-energy perks drew endorsements from advocates of wind and solar power.
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Hey, Where Is Everybody?
Deafening Silence Greets Bush’s Call for Voluntary Pollution Cuts Two years in, President Bush’s “Climate Leaders” program — a call for commitments from companies to voluntarily cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent or more within a decade — has seen only 50 of the thousands of polluting companies in the U.S. sign up, […]
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A Mighty Wind
New California Wind Farm Blows Previous Efforts Away Between San Francisco and Sacramento lies the nearly completed High Winds Energy Center, a state-of-the-art wind farm expected to generate roughly 162 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 75,000 homes — and make wind power competitive with extractive energy sources. The turbines at High Winds represent […]
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Bank Warms Chile
Bank Protects Land in Tierra del Fuego Environmentalists in Chile have reason to be muy feliz of late. First, the government agreed to turn a vast tract of land owned by U.S. multimillionaire Doug Tompkins into a public nature reserve. Now, investment bank Goldman Sachs has announced that it will create another such reserve in […]
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Umbra on supermarket coolers
Dear Umbra, Every time I go to the grocery store and see meats, dairy products, and other products displayed in open-air refrigerators, I get a little miffed and wonder if this isn’t a huge waste of energy and a tremendous cost to the supermarket as well. Do supermarkets make more money having their products in […]
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Activists and small-scale farmers are going “beyond organic” to push local foods
A-tisket, a-tasket, an organic produce basket. Photo: USDA. Organic food has hit the big time. The Whole Foods Market chain, the largest natural-foods retailer in the world, boasts 145 stores throughout North America; its leading competitor, Wild Oats, has 101 stores in 25 states and Canada. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture put in […]
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Baby, We Use Corn to Run
House and Senate Reach Agreement Over Ethanol in Energy Bill Clearing one of the last major hurdles on the way to a final energy bill, negotiators from the House and Senate agreed yesterday on most parts of a plan to almost double the use of ethanol by 2012 and provide a new tax credit for […]
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It’s Chemical (Let’s Do It)
Europe Pushes for Chemical Testing, But U.S. Backs Voluntary Approach While the European Commission voted last week to require new safety testing of chemicals (though not nearly as strict of testing as environmentalists would have liked), the U.S. is making no such strides. Rather, an average of two new chemicals are approved for use in […]
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Mileage-based car insurance could be a boon for the environment
Most of us don’t think much about car insurance. We eyeball the policy every year, fiddle around with a few changes to bring down the premium, and then forget about it until the bills come. And come they do — each exactly the same amount, no matter whether we’ve driven across the country or left […]
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What a Drag
Coral Gardens in Alaskan Waters Spur Controversy Over Trawling If you think coral is only to be found in warm, tropical waters, think again. Cold-water coral gardens contain a surprising array of biodiversity, and scientists discovered a particularly impressive coral bed in waters off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands last year, containing numerous coral varieties not seen […]
