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The Long and Winding Roadless
I’m into the last stages of a book on the roadless rule—you remember, the rule that protects unroaded areas on the national forests, the one put in place toward the end of the Clinton administration and walked away from by the Bushniks. It’s a long, tangled, and fascinating tale and I have two more weeks…
Read MoreWhat Is Lost, What Remains
Photos tell story of the energy boom’s threat to wild Wyoming. The natural gas industry has boomed nowhere like it has in southwest Wyoming, in the Upper Green River Valley at the south end of the Yellowstone ecosystem. Hundreds of well pads have been scraped and an industrial web of facilities and roads have gone…
Read MoreShopping As a Climate-neutral Act
In my last post I told you about using Freecycle, Craigslist, and eBay to reduce-reuse-and-recycle my way through a total refurnishing of my new, post-divorce life. It was a lot more fun and I found better quality things than shopping at garage sales and second-hand stores. There’s really great stuff out there if you follow…
Read MoreOut of Kansas – a National Clean Energy Agenda
We have just learned that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will appear June 26 in downtown Denver at an Earthjustice program to tell the story of how her bruising fight with coal power interests has helped create a national clean energy agenda. Seating is limited for the breakfast presentation, and reservations are recommended. The governor rose…
Read MoreYellow Soap
Q: What do forests, water, wildlife, and agriculture have in common? A: They’re all being reshaped, redistributed, and otherwise readjusted by climate change. Now, in real time. That’s the conclusion of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which just released a long-delayed government-commissioned report on how climate change is affecting the American landscape. This is…
Read MoreWhite House Propaganda and the Environment
Today Americans first learned that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has written a tell-all book about his years in the Bush Administration. According to press accounts, the administration was less than candid with the American people. McClellan now believes he told numerous untruths on behalf of the administration. While the administration will certainly…
Read MoreNo One Said This Would Be Easy
First we had the skeptics, the nay-sayers, who denied that the climate is heating up, or, if it is, it’s natural and not our fault. Rush Limbaugh still spouts this line, as does Senator Jim Inhofe, but their ranks are dwindling, have in fact dwindled to insignificance. So now the next wave, as in this…
Read MoreHow Does Lafarge Cement Fight Being Labeled the Biggest Mercury Polluter in New York?
…by giving themselves an environmental award, of course! note that the Lafarge press release touting their environmental award came out, according to the article, 6 months after they received the award. during that time we held two press conferences pounding on Lafarge for their mercury pollution, and this Albany Times Union reporter did a great…
Read MoreThe Looming Choice: Fuel or Food?
I’ve never been quite sure what ‘a perfect storm’ means (didn’t see the movie), but it seems to mean a situation where everything gangs up on you. If so, we seem to be already in perfect storm territory in the building competition between hungry people and thirsty vehicles for corn and other grains. Just the…
Read MoreU.S. Risks Losing Vote in International Negotiations
The U.S.may lose its right to vote on international ship pollution standards because Congress has failed to implement a treaty setting limits on ship pollution. At risk is a vote in upcoming negotiations on stricter standards proposed by the U.S. delegation to the International Maritime Organization. House and Senate lawmakers are trying to resolve differences…
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