Energy & Environment

See All Press
Taking the Fifth
February 13, 2009 1 min. read

The recent salmonella outbreak caused by contamination in peanut plants in the United States has raised new fears about domestic food security.  To date, eight people have died in connection with the contamination and 600 hundred have become ill.  A recent video from the New York Times recaps the development of the outbreak and challenges […]

Read more
Shift on corn-based ethanol?
February 13, 2009 2 min. read

One-third of the annual crop yield in the United States is placed into the production of alternative fuels such as corn-based ethanol.  The development of this kind of energy, known as “biofuel,” is in large part the result of a desire in the U.S. to shift away from dependence on foreign oil and the harmful […]

Read more
Running Out: The Global Food Crisis
February 11, 2009 1 min. read

Watch the FPA Great Decisions production on the global food crisis.

Read more
Here Comes the Sun …
February 11, 2009 1 min. read

… and I say, it’s alright.  Here are a couple of items that should make you feel warm.  First, RenewableEnergyWorld.com has a look at the US Utility-scale Solar Picture.  How are we doing?  Well, the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) “…is aware of contracts totaling over 1500 MW of PV and 4000 MW of concentrating […]

Read more
The Global Food Crisis
February 10, 2009 1 min. read

The Foreign Policy Association has chosen to focus on last year’s global food crisis as part of the Great Decisions series for 2009. In addition to the article by Elaine Monaghan in the briefing book, and online resources, the FPA has also produced an episode of the Great Decisions Television Series on the global food […]

Read more
The Obama Team's Diplomacy
February 9, 2009 2 min. read

Among the several tacks that Obama and Co. are taking on climate change, one very critical one is in international relations.  The State Department has named its envoy on climate change, Todd Stern, and the Secretary of State is heading to Asia next week for extensive meetings in Japan, Indonesia, Korea and China.  Secretary Clinton […]

Read more
Change
February 8, 2009 3 min. read

Change is what the Obama campaign was advertising.  They won and I, for my part, am not complaining about false advertising.  I’ve been raving here (and here, and here, among other places) about how the new administration is really rolling up its sleeves and getting down to cases on climate change, renewables, the green economy, […]

Read more
Some Observations from Boxer's Press Conference
February 6, 2009 3 min. read

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 + Adobe Fireworks CS3 + Wave Arts Power Suite Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer had a press conference earlier this week, as I noted under Keeping Up the Pace in the post just below. I watched some of it today on C-Span while I was having lunch. In […]

Read more
Critical Updates
February 4, 2009 4 min. read
Tags:

No, we’re not Microsoft, but I’ve got some news you should be getting, if not critical software updates. Smart Grid – Smart idea for US energy policy is the title of the recent editorial from the “FT.” They say that the smart grid “would be a national asset comparable to the interstate highways launched by […]

Read more
Vectors, Lepidoptera and Invasives
February 1, 2009 3 min. read

My dictionary defines vector as “an organism (as an insect) that transmits a pathogen.” Researchers from Australia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (my alma mater) have been looking at the species of mosquito that carries dengue fever.  Their studies indicate that climate change, on its present track, will increase mosquito habitat across much of Australia, […]

Read more
The EU Still Leads
January 28, 2009 2 min. read

The 27-nation European Union has come up with its proposals for how to proceed after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.  As you know, the world is going to sit down in Copenhagen in December and finalize an agreement.  (See Further Thoughts on Poznan here from December.) EurActiv reports here that “According to the Commission, […]

Read more
A Different View of Freedom
January 27, 2009 2 min. read

A truly thoughtful essay from Harry Eyres, Freedom and the price of oil, appeared in this past weekend’s “FT.”  It’s a meditation, to a great extent, on the ecologist Ivan Illich.  Eyres writes of Illich:  “He had the barmy-seeming idea that we would do better – that is to say would lead more human, fairer […]

Read more

Popular from Press