I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. As global warming accelerates, the world will become not only hotter, flatter, and more crowded but also thirsty, according to a new study that finds 70 percent of counties in the United States may face climate change-related risks to their water supplies by 2050. One-third [...]
Archive for the ‘climate change’ Category
Report: U.S. faces climate change-driven water shortages
Posted in climate change, global warming, Natural Resources Defense Council, water, tagged climate change, global warmng, Natural Resources Defense Council, Tetra Tech, water shortages on July 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Fighting climate change with the Endangered Species Act
Posted in climate change, endangered species, global warming, green policy, tagged American pika, Center for Biological Diversity, climate change, Earthjustice, Endangered Species Act, global warming, Natural Resources Defense Council on July 25, 2010 | 2 Comments »
photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service On Thursday, Yale Environment 360 published a story I wrote about a growing fight over using the U.S. Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife at risk of extinction from climate change: While a high-profile battle raged over listing the polar bear as a threatened species due to melting Arctic [...]
The great carbon market crash of ’09
Posted in carbon trading, climate change, corporate sustainability, environment, tagged Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Chicago Climate Exchange, Ecosystem Marketplace, Voluntary carbon markets on June 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This post first appeared in Grist. As we know, one of the few beneficial side effects of the Great Recession of 2009 was the decline in global greenhouse gas emissions as our consumer-centric economy sputtered. But that also sent the voluntary carbon markets into a tailspin, according to a new report released Tuesday by Bloomberg [...]
Enviro group deploys green tech against fracking
Posted in climate change, global warming, green tech, Picarro, tagged DISH, Earthworks, Flower Mound, fracking, Picarro on March 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
In my new Green State column on Grist, I write about how an environmental justice group in Texas is using a greenhouse gas analyzer from Silicon Valley’s Picarro to detect pollution from natural gas fracking operations in two communities near Dallas: If you had been driving through North Texas this week you might have seen [...]
Survey: Utility execs pro-nuke climate skeptics
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, environment, nuclear energy, tagged Black & Veatch, nuclear power, survey, utility industry, water on February 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In The New York Times on Wednesday, I write about a survey of U.S. utility industry executives and insiders conducted by Black & Veatch: American utility industry executives see nuclear energy as the most promising carbon-free power source, are skeptical of climate change science, and are uncertain about the future, according to a report to [...]
California sets up first GHG monitoring network
Posted in climate change, global warming, green policy, tagged AB32, Calfornia, climate change, global warming, greenhouse gas monitoring network, methane on February 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Picarro In The New York Times on Wednesday, I write about California’s move to deploy the world’s first statewide greenhouse gas monitoring network: SAN FRANCISCO — California is preparing to introduce the first statewide system of monitoring devices to detect global-warming emissions, installing them on towers throughout the state. The monitoring network, which is [...]
Solar showdown in the Mojave
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, endangered species, enviro startups, environment, global warming, green policy, green startups, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, tagged BrightSource Energy, desert tortoise, Goldman Sachs, Mojave Desert, Senator Dianne Feinstein, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, wildlife on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In Tuesday’s New York Times, I write about California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s move to ban renewable energy production in two proposed national monuments in the Mojave Desert: AMBOY, Calif. — Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big [...]
Australia’s climate change coup
Posted in alternative energy, Australia, climate change, environment, green policy, tagged Australia, cap-and-trade, climate change, Kevin Rudd, Labor Party, Liberal Party, Tony Abbott on December 9, 2009 | 2 Comments »
In my new Green State column on Grist, I write about the latest political machinations in Australia that derailed carbon cap-and-trade legislation at the 11th hour and sets the stage for a national election fought largely over climate change: As I boarded my flight back to California in Brisbane, Australia, last Wednesday, I received an [...]
Test-driving Ford’s Model T of electric cars
Posted in climate change, corporate green, electric cars, green cars, green policy, tagged battery-powered Focus, electric cars, Ford, Ford Escape, Ford Focus, Nancy Gioia, plug-in hybrids on October 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody Ford executives brought a battery-powered Focus sedan to San Francisco on Thursday (along with a plug-in hybrid Escape). It was clear from the presentation by Nancy Gioia, Ford’s director of global electrification, that the automaker is aiming for a mass market and is spending a great deal of effort on helping create [...]
From Motor City to Solar City
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green startups, green tech, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Cosma International, green manufacturing, Magna International, Skyline Solar on October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Skyline Solar Silicon Valley startup Skyline Solar has joined other green energy companies beating a path to Detroit to take advantage of the down-and-out auto industry’s manufacturing might. As I write in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday: Skyline Solar, a Silicon Valley start-up, has become the latest green energy company to tap the [...]
