Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
US companies making carbon cuts
San Francisco Chronicle
11/19/2009
A survey of 90 big US companies found that most were addressing climate change, either by cutting energy use, measuring greenhouse gas emissions, adopting policies to cut emissions, or pushing for federal legislation to do the same.
Go to article.
Views: US health-reform foes on wrong side of history
Seattle Times
11/19/2009
Why is it broadly accepted that elderly Americans should have universal health care, while it's immensely controversial to seek universal coverage for children? What's the difference, asks Nicholas Kristof, except that health care for children is far cheaper?
Go to article.
Questions arise over Obama's salmon plan
Oregonian
11/19/2009
On Monday comes the latest in the long-running court battle over the government's plan to run its hydroelectric dams without pushing Columbia Basin salmon closer to extinction.
Go to article.
Views: Sliding backward on climate change
Oregonian
11/19/2009
Portland may be at the edge of the continent, but in so many ways it's right at the center of Al Gore's green thinking.
Go to article.
Health bill hopes to sway reluctant Democrats
NPR
11/19/2009
The Senate needs 60 votes to bring its health care bill to the floor. To round up those votes, the bill unveiled Wednesday costs less than the House version, and delays the effective date for many provisions to 2014.
Go to article.
Toward Copenhagen
The Nation
11/19/2009
As we approach the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference, December 7 to 18--the world's last chance to secure an emissions reductions agreement that will replace the Kyoto Protocol before it expires--activists racing against a ticking environmental bomb are channeling their energies at the UN talks and beyond. Join them.
Go to article.
Pelosi: Abortion issue won't sink health care bill
NPR
11/19/2009
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday predicted that she can corral enough moderate Democrats to guarantee passage of health care overhaul legislation -- even if it doesn't contain a controversial House proposal that would expand abortion limits.
Go to article.
Free clinics tied to health-care debate
Seattle Times
11/20/2009
A nonprofit group's campaign to hold free medical clinics for the uninsured in three states is turning into a not-so-subtle jab at moderate Democrats to support their party's efforts to reform health care.
Go to article.
Reid pushes for votes on US health-care bill
Washington Post
11/20/2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid worked Thursday to nail down the votes needed to move to a final debate on health-care legislation, but a tepid assessment of the public insurance plan he crafted emerged as the latest potential obstacle to the passage of the far-reaching changes.
Go to article.
'Cash for Caulkers' home weatherization program
New York Times
11/18/2009
The economy still needs help. So White House officials are looking at creating a new version of cash for clunkers -- this time for home weatherization. Call it "cash for caulkers."
Go to article.
Infuriated mom: Why can't I protect my body?
Seattle Post Globe
11/18/2009
Kim Radtke of Seattle was pregnant with her now nearly three-week-old son when tests detected in her blood 11 chemicals, including mercury.
Go to article.
Making sun, wind power more reliable
New York Times
11/19/2009
Technology and policy are coming together to promise electricity as abundant as sunshine and as freely available as the breeze -- and about as fickle. That could change.
Go to article.
Views: What climate-change deniers really believe
Seattle Times
11/18/2009
So, you don't believe in global warming? You're wrong, says columnist Thomas L. Friedman, but he'll let you enjoy it until your beach house gets washed away.
Go to article.
Gore insists on switch to clean energy, new politics
Oregonian
11/18/2009
The person most responsible for raising public consciousness on climate change, Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, is touring the country to tell us how to avert the calamities he has long projected.
Go to article.
US Chamber of Commerce split over climate issue
New York Times
11/19/2009
Climate change poses a different sort of challenge for the US Chamber of Commerce. Many of its big-business members are deeply split on the issue, with some standing to profit from an economy moving away from reliance on fossil fuels, while others could see cost increases.
Go to article.
Views: Closing in on a carbon target
Washington Post
11/19/2009
While in China, President Obama came tantalizingly close to saying what the rest of the world has been waiting years to hear: that next month the United States, the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases, will finally come to the table with a specific carbon reduction target.
Go to article.
Senate to put off climate bill until spring
Wall Street Journal
11/17/2009
Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.
Go to article.
Paying more for flights eases guilt, not emissions
New York Times
11/17/2009
One of the first travel companies to offer airline customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter theit planet-warming emissions has canceled the program. While it might help travelers feel virtuous, the offsets were not helping to reduce global emissions and might even encourage people to travel more.
Go to article.
Health group finds high lead levels in toys
Seattle Times
11/17/2009
Children's toys carrying the Barbie and Disney logos have turned up with high levels of lead in them, according to a California-based advocacy group - a finding that may give consumers pause as they shop for the holiday season.
Go to article.
A Q&A with Al Gore
Seattle Times
11/17/2009
On a book tour in Seattle, former Vice President Al Gore weighs in on the Copenhagen climate summit, Obama's efforts so far, the prospects for US legislation, pseudo-science and garden-variety denial.
Go to article.
Study: Farm animals devouring the world's fish
Vancouver Sun
11/17/2009
Consumer campaigns that promote sustainable seafood fail to address the fact the world's fish resources are being gobbled up by chickens, pigs, fish, and other farm animals, a study involving the University of BC concludes.
Go to article.
Views: We need another carbon tariff
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/18/2009
A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt. A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt.
Go to article.
Where can I juice up my ride?
Washington Post
11/18/2009
As their manufacturers see it, the electric cars entering U.S. showrooms as early as next year will be engineering marvels: stylish, battery-operated, zero-emission wonders. Yet for all their technological prowess, there's one practical question that unsettles the green dreamers and entrepreneurs alike: Where, oh, where, can you plug them in?
Go to article.
Paying extra for green power, getting ads instead
New York Times
11/17/2009
Close to a million electricity customers have signed up for voluntary "green power" payments, and the amount of electricity sold in this way has nearly tripled since 2005, amid rising concern about climate change and energy security. But the participants are in a distinct minority, with a sign-up rate of only about 2 percent in programs run by utilities.
Go to article.
Judge won't consider White House salmon plan
Oregonian
11/16/2009
The federal judge overseeing the balancing act between salmon and Columbia Basin dams says he doesn't think he can consider new steps the Obama administration wants to take.
Go to article.
