As terrible floods rage simultaneously around the world—inundating half of Australia, killing more than 50 people in the Philippines and hundreds in Brazil—it’s natural to want a scapegoat. Well, you can blame the “little girl”—the weather phenomenon known as La Nina, which many meteorologists are blaming for the …
Politics: Why the U.S. and China Can Cooperate on Clean Energy
Over on the mainpage, I have a piece pegged to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the U.S.—and how Washington and Beijing can find valuable common ground on energy and climate, assuming short-term politics don’t get in the way. Check it out here.
Can Climate and Energy Become the New Civil Rights Movement?
I’m in Abu Dhabi right now, attending the World Future Energy Summit and getting a chance to check out the first finished buildings in Masdar City. I’ll have more on the summit and the city tomorrow, but I wanted to focus on something else today. I often write on this blog about rapidly the planet has developed over the past few decades, …
China’s Nuclear Energy Ambitions: Big, Bold, and Unstoppable
China announced via its state-run media yesterday that more nuclear power plants will be built during the nation’s next Five Year Plan, from 2011-2015. It’s not exactly new news, per se, as it’s been well known that China’s nuclear power sector has been expanding for some time in concert with the nation’s goal to generate 15% …
What is killing the pacific salmon?
The great sockeye salmon run from the Pacific Ocean to Canada’s Fraser River was for decades an example of nature’s fruitful bounty. Some 60 million fish returned annually to spawn. But starting in the 1990s, the sockeye’s productivity declined precipitously—and in 2009 only 1 million fish returned to the run.
Health: Using Genetic Engineering to Make Chickens Flu-Proof
On the main page I have a piece on a fascinating Science study that showed how scientists were able to genetically engineer chickens to make them virtually unable to pass on avian flu. That could have major implications for influenza—birds can spread new flu viruses to human beings—and for veterinary disease, if researchers can …
Mining: The EPA Vetoes a Mountaintop Removal Mine—and Industry Opponents Fire Back
In a decision that could have a major impact on both the mining industry and the Obama Administration’s relationship with conservatives, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it was vetoing the largest single mountaintop mining removal permit in West Virginia history. In using its authority under the Clean Water …
Weather Watch: The Rains Felt Round the World
Residents of Brisbane, Australia must have woke up Thursday morning with at least some sense of relief. The swollen Brisbane River that runs through the nation’s third largest city did not reach the catastrophic levels as they were predicted to overnight. With at least 25 dead and a dozen still missing, Australia did not face an easy …
Climate: Federal Scientists Say 2010 Tied As the Warmest Year on Record
New Yorkers like myself awoke this morning to a fluffy layer of fresh snow. (And the sound of scores of plows sweeping the streets clean, as our billionaire mayor tries to make us forget about the Blizzard of 2009.) New Englanders are being walloped with a full-on major snowstorm—though hardened Bostonians just shrug it off—while the …
Disasters: One Year After the Haiti Quake, The Struggle to Rebuild Stronger
One of the surprising facts about the devastating earthquake in Haiti, which struck the island country a year ago today, is that by seismic standards it wasn’t all that big. The temblor was 7.0 on the Richter scale—strong, but hardly record-breaking. The earthquake that hit Chile a month and a half later was an 8.8—some 500 times …