by Anna Fahey

Posted 1 week ago Anna Fahey explores what energy and climate policy has to do with her baby's IQ. Read More

Posted 1 week ago Introducing a baby into the family means introducing a whole slew of stuff into our lives -- much of it bulky, expensive, and plastic. Read More

Posted 4 months, 1 week ago Industrialized nations may find themselves borrowing and begging for new technologies that China has been busy perfecting all along. Read More

Posted 6 months, 1 week ago This fall, Northwest-based global businesses Nike and Starbucks led a group of consumer brands to publicly champion muscular, science-based climate and energy policies.  But where are all the other Northwest companies on climate policy? Amazon? Microsoft? Boeing? Read More

Posted 6 months, 1 week ago New Pew survey numbers indicating strong public support for the essential ingredients of a national cap and trade program. Who cares if people can't name the policy -- they know what they want. Read More

Posted 10 months ago

At first glance, the latest poll numbers from Pew Research Center on Americans' top priorities for the new president might appear worrisome to climate policy advocates.

Global warming is in last place in the top 20, and the environment in general slipped down in the list since last year. Andrew Revkin over at New York Times' Dot Earth blog goes so far as to say, "America and President Barack Obama are completely out of sync on human-caused global warming." (There are some startling new numbers from Rasmussen on that… Read More

Posted 11 months ago The cost of oil has been a rollercoaster ride since the 1970s. Thankfully, we've hit a low in this season of recession, foreclosures, and a major Wall Street meltdown. But nobody expects the ride to be over -- and the only way to go now is up.

Just ask oil industry insiders. A recent survey of senior oil and gas professionals by (auditing and consulting firm) Deloitte revealed growing concern among the top brass of the fossil fuel industry about the affordability and sustainability of oil and gas in the near future, along with a surprisingly strong belief in… Read More

Posted 1 year, 5 months ago The National research firm Public Opinion Strategies recently conducted a survey of 500 likely Oregon voters to assess views on the issue of climate change and to gauge support for the basic principles of policy measures like the proposed cap-and-trade system in the Lieberman-Warner Act (a.k.a. the Climate Security Act -- legislation that was recently defeated last week in the U.S. Senate, but marked a step forward on national climate policy.) The survey, which presents arguments for and against cap-and-trade, clearly indicates that Oregon voters support this kind of climate legislation (72 percent). Beyond that,… Read More

Posted 1 year, 6 months ago It took soaring fuel prices for old habits to shift. But they're shifting alright. Just take a look at these poll results -- Gallup finds that big numbers of Americans are making changes in their daily lives to deal with higher gas prices. Here's a snapshot: Read More

Posted 1 year, 7 months ago There's lots of buzz about green-collar jobs these days (sort of like blue-collar jobs, but with a sustainable edge) -- whether you're listening to Obama, McCain, or Clinton; Gregoire, Kulongoski, or Schwarzenegger.

You hear this kind of thing a lot: A study conducted by the RAND Corporation and the University of Tennessee found that producing 25 percent of all American energy fuel and electricity from renewables by the year 2025 would produce the following: "$700 billion of new economic activity, carbon emission reduction by 1 billion tons, and… Read More