In an op-ed last week at the NY Times, Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute, reiterated the same old tired and tiresome nonsense about renewable energy: It’s not good enough to get the job done. As I’ve noted here a number of times, that particular Big Lie is easily refuted. See 80% Renewable – The […]
Italian voters cast ballots Sunday and yesterday in referenda on four questions: two on privatization of water services, one on criminal procedure (which would exempt the prime minister from prosecution) and one on a return to using nuclear power. More than 57% voted, surpassing the 50% +1 needed for the referenda to be binding. Of […]
I wrote last week about some of the ins and outs of food insecurity relative to climate change. (Forgive me, not incidentally, for not writing so much or so often in recent weeks. I’ve been finishing up a big writing project and I’ve been pretty focused on that. It’s done, finally, as of this past […]
OPEC’s meeting in Vienna a couple days ago ended without the cartel agreeing on a production level. This hasn’t happened in years (if memory serves, the last time was during the Iran-Iraq War), and it has left many questioning the organization’s future. After 5 hours of talks, the Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said, […]
Both children and adults in the United States seem to do their best to avoid eating as many fruits and vegetables as they should, and the recent deadly E. Coli outbreak in Europe gave them an added excuse to leave these items off of their plate. Against these odds, the USDA released its new nutrition […]
Bean sprouts have had a roller coaster week in the ongoing investigation into the source of E. Coli contamination which has claimed 31 lives and sickened 3,000 around the world. After being identified as the source for contamination earlier in the week and then being exonerated, German officials have once again tapped bean sprouts as […]
Brazil has relied on sugar cane-derived ethanol for much of its auto fleet for years. However, the industry has hit a soft patch in investment. Since 2005, the country has built 117 ethanol mills, but after the five currently coming on line are finished there are no plans for further expansion. When you consider that […]
There was a very important bit of reporting in the NY Times yesterday: A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself. Among the most important things it does is illustrate quite clearly how the extremes of temperature and precipitation that are becoming the norm are negatively affecting agricultural production. Productivity losses generate higher prices which, in […]
Now that a recent outbreak of a deadly strain of E. Coli that hit Europe in late May has been contained by stepped up screening, governments and consumers are questioning how the outbreak of such a deadly bacteria emerged and how can future outbreaks be prevented. First, what is known: At the time of this […]
It appears to me that President Obama has made another excellent choice for his administration for advancing the cause of clean tech and living up to the responsibility of fighting the climate crisis. He has named John Bryson, a founder of the seminal environmental organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council, as the new Secretary of […]
The PBS program, Need to Know, had an important segment recently on the implications for human health from climate change. These are, unfortunately, many and various, and include disease vectors exacerbated by warming, allergies, health impacts from too much or too little water, and heat. The show looked at a number of concerns, articulated by […]
Germany’s Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen announced that Germany is going nuclear-free by 2022. The country’s seven oldest reactors were taken off-line shortly after the Fukushima meltdown, and an eighth (the glitch-prone Kruemmel facility in northern Germany) has been off-line for technical reasons and won’t be returned to active service. Six more will go into shut […]
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