Science & Technology

Image via Salon

Over the last few years, sound science has been under attack in disciplines focusing on everything from climate to vaccines. Yesterday, I excerpted an interview with a man whom many consider to be a champion of sound science -- Simon Singh deftly articulated the public relations crisis science faces in the modern age. So I thought I'd follow up on the topic today, after seeing that the esteemed scientific journal Nature published a fantastic op-ed, Science Scorned (subs. required), that details the threat posed by the growing anti-science attitudes held by many of the nation's leading politicians and media ringleaders.

Business & Politics

Photo via the WSJ

The biggest story to break in the clean energy world in the last few days is certainly the allegation that China is breaking World Trade Organization rules by unfairly subsidizing its exports of renewable energy equipment and materials. An American union, the United Steelworkers, has filed a legal case with the Obama administration over the matter, claiming that Chinese policies are taking a toll on the domestic clean energy industry, and killing jobs. And there's a concern that while Chinese policies have undoubtedly made things like solar panels and wind turbines cheaper and more affordable, they may have created a bubble that's prone to burst and disrupt the market. But there's one thing that strikes me as glaringly absent from all the discussion engendered by this 'revelation':

Cars & Transportation

Google the phrase "war on cars" and you will find that across North America, people are using the phrase to defend the happy motorized way of life. As one blog put it:

Hiding behind the veil of environmentalism and "sustainability," a small number of activists are having a big influence on tax policy, urban planning, and government regulation with the hope of shifting our society away from the individualism and freedom afforded by the automobile.

Business & Politics

Image via Red, Green, and Blue

What just a year ago seemed to be a weak alternative or a mere support beam to good carbon-reducing energy policy is now a pie-in-the-sky longshot. Pricing carbon emissions was the bedrock of the climate bill that passed the House of Representatives last year, and the Renewable Energy Standard that required utilities to get a percentage of their energy from clean sources was a secondary (though still important) complement. After the Senate climate bill officially crashed and burned, there was hope that a RES would be included in the super-scaled down energy bill released instead. It wasn't. But now, some in the Democratic leadership are talking about trying to revive it anyways. Is there a possibility we may yet see some national effort to curb carbon and stimulate clean energy development this year?

Business & Politics

photo: Takver via flickr

Bill McKibben and friends are in a biodiesel van making the symbolic journey to the White House from the Maine college where Jimmy Carter's solar water heating panel has been residing for the past three decades, ultimately pressing the President to install donated solar PV panels, all as part of an effort to reinvigorate the environmental movement. But symbolism is only part of what's required.

Cars & Transportation

We Need More Separated Bike Paths
The video above shows the transformation of Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. The addition of a two-way separated bike lane has had a calming effect on traffic, making the area safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and the extra-safety of the new bike lane is attracting lots of new cyclists of all skill levels. It clearly shows that "if you build it they will come" when it comes to bike infrastructure. Via Streetfilms. See also: How Copenhagen Became a Great People-Oriented City (Video)

Business & Politics

Image via Washington Times

In the post-Deepwater Horizon explosion rush to expose every devious, idiotic, two-faced, greedy, and hypocritical move BP has every made, the media has brought us a veritable treasure trove of anecdotes and revelations: BP saved millions by cutting corners on the destroyed rig. BP had shady connections to the Lockerbie bomber. BP licensed an oil disaster board game! Obviously, these range from the genuinely terrible to the the downright trivial. Somewhere along that spectrum lies the most recent "BP gotcha" -- news has surfaced that BP helped write California State's public school curriculum.

Business & Politics

Image: Wikipedia, CC

This Document Was Not for Public Consumption
A leaked study by the German military reveals that the Bundeswehr is taking the possibility of peak oil (the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, leading to a gradual decline) very seriously. The authors of the study, led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Will, forecast a "shifts in the global balance of power, of the formation of new relationships based on interdependency, of a decline in importance of the western industrial nations, of the 'total collapse of the markets' and of serious political and economic crises."