EcocentricFood
Food-safety reform advocates won a long-awaited—and rare—victory today in Washington. This morning the Senate passed a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s food-safety system, approving the Food Safety and Modernization Act by an unusually bipartisan vote of 73-25. The bill, which had been languishing in the Senate for more than a …
EcocentricRegulation
If you’re a bit of a slob like me, you are wearing jeans to work today, and if, like me, you’re a bit of a slob who doesn’t manage hedge funds, your jeans are fairly run of the mill. My H&M specials today were made in Pakistan. But most of my other jeans are made across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor in southern China, and may very …
EcocentricUncategorized
Readers of this blog will know that one of my pet issues is energy research and innovation. The U.S. invests an obscenely low amount of federal money on basic energy research—perhaps $5 billion a year, not counting one-time stimulus spending, compared to $30 billion and north of $70 billion annually for medicine and defense …
EcocentricEcocentric
As the next round of international talks about climate change begin in Cancun tomorrow, optimism is low that the talks will lead to a major breakthrough among countries trying to cut emissions. But ahead of the summit, environmentalists applauded an initiative by a consortium of around 400 private companies to ban …
EcocentricOceans
I didn’t understand just how valuable a bluefin tuna could be until I spent a year in Tokyo. Before Japan, sushi was a California roll with artificial wasabi and too much soy sauce. In Tokyo, I discovered how different a meal could be with fresh fish, expertly prepared by a sushi chef standing sentinel behind his counter. And nothing …
EcocentricEcocentric
It’s the most wonderful time of the year once more for environment reporters: the UN climate summit. Last year’s affair in Copenhagen was a frigid disaster, mostly a failure for the climate—but at least the food was terrible. Beginning on November 29, diplomats from more than 190 countries will spend two weeks (plus overtime) …
EcocentricOil
As early as the mid-1990s energy forecasters warned about the demise of cheap oil. But was the world overlooking a potentially larger problem: the end of cheap coal?
EcocentricOil
There are people who have tougher jobs in the world, like sergeants in Afghanistan or maybe the coach of the 76ers. But Kenneth Feinberg doesn’t have it easy. The Boston-bred lawyer took over the Gulf oil spill claims process in late August, and since then he’s managed to be criticized by nearly everyone in the Gulf Coast region. …
EcocentricUncategorized
The mesmerizing events of 33 miners’ survival and epic rescue from the San José mine outside Copiapó, Chile, was an incredible thing to behold. And my first reaction to the tremendous attention that the saga commanded was that it could help raise the profile of the workers across the world who put their lives at risk in mines …
EcocentricEcocentric
The UN climate summit will begin in Cancun, Mexico on November 29 with, um, slightly less ambitious goals than last year’s doomed mega-meeting in Copenhagen. Though analysts are hoping that the Cancun meeting could provide some useful progress on specific issues like avoided deforestation and climate aid, few people expect the summit …
