Climate Technology

Coughing Up the Dough

In the latest victory for residents suffering from pollution-related health problems in a Japanese city, 10 companies agreed today to pay $12.2 million to 260 locals who went to court to protest emissions from the companies’ factories. The out-of-court settlement ends a 12-year dispute in which the Nagoya residents contended that the factory emissions and […]

You Light Up My Cubicle

Data Dump

State officials in the Pacific Northwest are searching for ways to reduce the amount of high-tech waste ending up in landfills. The waste in Oregon has more than doubled since 1998, and it can be nasty stuff — computer monitors and televisions contain four to eight pounds of lead each. The officials are considering a […]

Fund for the Whole Family

To help fund its operations, the Sierra Club may start a mutual fund to invest in companies that pass a strict green test. The group’s executive director, Carl Pope, said the fund would use a tougher investment screen than most other mutual funds marketed as being environmentally responsible. The fund would be managed by an […]

Perrier didn't reckon on an angry citizenry when it looked to expand into the Midwest

Escape to Wisconsin. Play in our lakes, fish our rivers, and cavort in the famously kitschy water parks of Wisconsin Dells. Just don’t try to take a drop of it home with you. Ninety-nine bottles of water on the wall. This, at least, is the stern message being sent by thousands of Wisconsin citizens to […]

The Arctic Refuge could become Bush's gays-in-the-military

California’s energy crisis has become a national Rorschach test, saying more about the viewer than about the ink blot. President Bush is a special case: He looks at the deregulation crisis and sees the need to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Caribou-hoo-hoo. Photo: USFWS. Of course, given the number of oil […]

Dubya's pro-industry policies aren't only about the money

Consider the rules. No, not the rules of love, but the rules of government — specifically those rules of the previous administration suspended for 60 days on the first day of the present administration under an order issued by President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card. Rules of the game. No big deal. […]

Meet the Bush team, brought to you by Exxon

To an extraordinary degree, the administration assembled by George W. Bush is made up of men and women with experience in the automobile and oil industries. With the energy crisis in California, such energy expertise at the helm, it would seem, must be a good thing. Would that it were so. In reality, the Bush […]

The Big Three are talking a good game, but reality does not match the rhetoric

Judging by the media hype over Ford’s and General Motors’ early January announcements on “hybrid” vehicles at the North American International Auto Show, one would think that automakers have seen the light and are finally matching their professed concern for the environment with deeds. Hybrid cars deliver better fuel efficiency by using two power sources […]

Deregulation in California didn't help consumers, or the environment

As blackouts roll through California, the New Hampshire Supreme Court cleared the way for electrical restructuring, while a Vermont utility assured legislators that what is happening out West can’t happen here. Why not? The powers that don’t have to be. As I hear people try to explain California’s electricity problem, I wonder whether anyone really […]