Archive for the “Environment” category

Krauthammer is a moron. Also, the sky is blue.

by Pete on May 30, 2010

In his op-ed column at the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer aims his hack-ray at the BP disaster currently unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. Jonathan Chait, understandably, takes some issue with Krauthammer’s claim that the disaster is primarily the fault (…)

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Spill here, spill now

by Pete on May 26, 2010

Subbing for Ezra Klein, Kate Sheppard writes: The U.S. uses 23 percent of total world oil consumption, but has only 3 percent the world’s oil reserves within its borders. Drilling off every coast in the U.S. won’t resolve that issue. (…)

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Ed Begley wants his computer back

by Pete on September 20, 2009

This morning’s New York Times features a story about the ever-increasing power consumption needs of all the various electronic gear and gadgetry found in the contemporary U.S. household. The story also discusses the challenges facing efforts to mandate efficiency standards (…)

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Krugman is right, except for this one part

by Pete on June 22, 2009

Krugman has an NYT post today titled “Climate change fantasies”. Discussing the varying estimates of the impact on household budgets of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade plan, he points out that CBO estimates of the plan’s cost in 2020 come out to (…)

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Who Killed the Electric Car?

by Pete on December 14, 2008

I watched Who Killed the Electric Car? last night. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. While the film is relatively well put-together, it definitely has “preaching to the choir” quality that is fairly typical of this brand of documentary. (…)

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Who knew a “stormwater management solution” could be so cool?

by Pete on July 18, 2008

I can’t claim credit for finding this link, but holy moley is it cool. The full photo essay is definitely worth checking out over at Inhabitat.com, but if you’re too lazy to click through, it’s a ginormous storm drain system (…)

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At least we have priorities

by Pete on February 7, 2008

The New York Times has a pretty interesting article about the challenges to communities looking to decrease their carbon emissions or otherwise reduce their environmental impact. From outdated and inflexible zoning laws to dwindling tax revenues, cities and towns are (…)

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Al Gore

by Pete on October 12, 2007

Now that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize (along with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we’re sure to see a whole new round of hysteria from the “Draft Gore” people. Ezra Klein pretty well sums up (…)

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Earthships, or, The Right Way To Save the Environment

by Pete on April 30, 2007

Over in his new digs on the Atlantic Monthly site, Matt Yglesias, recently returned from a trip through New Mexico, ask the following questions about “Earthship”-style eco-homes: I wonder if some of my more eco-aware readers might be able to (…)

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