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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Got food? Farmworker Awareness Week is a chance to recognize the people whose labor means we can eat	Fawn Pattison	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is Farmworker Awareness Week, a time to support the millions of farmworkers whose labor puts food on every American table, and who work and live in some of the worst environmental conditions in our nation. It's estimated that 2 to 3 million farmworkers plant, tend, and harvest American crops every year. Many farmworkers in the U.S. are migrants who move from place to place following the harvest. Where I live, in North Carolina, migrant farmworkers are the ma ...
Topics: agriculture, Big Ag, business, environmental justice, food, grassroots activism, health, toxics (all these topics)

When does additionality matter? Part 2 Measuring additionality has clear benefits -- and also some obvious costs	Adam Stein	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The second in a series of posts on additionality. In his post criticizing the design of carbon markets, Sean correctly notes that additionality is a pain to measure -- an ever more expensive pain, as the industry matures and quality controls become more stringent. To take an example I know well, at TerraPass, we spend tens of thousands of dollars per project helping dairy farmers validate their methane digesters under the Voluntary Carbon Standard. It's a complex proc ...
Topics: business, carbon offsets, carbon trading, climate, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Carbon policy details: Part 4 Spots vs. strips	Sean Casten	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is the fourth post in five-part series on the details required to get carbon policy right. See also parts one, two, and three. We now get into an issue that will seem a bit arcane, because no one's talking about it, at least not explicitly. But it's a real choice, and in many conversations about carbon policy we are implicitly getting it wrong. Should we price carbon in spots, or strips? Or, to take it out of financial jargon, should we: set up markets ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Urgency and solvability: The "we" campaign Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection unveils ambitious $300 million ad campaign	David Roberts	31 Mar 2008	Gristmill
If you read Juliet Eilperin's great rundown in the Washington Post, you know that today marks the launch of a massive PR effort from Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore has concluded that U.S. politicians will continue to be timid on climate change until the public demands otherwise. "The simple algorithm is this: It's important to change the light bulbs, but it's much more important to change the laws," he said. "The options available to ...
Topics: Al Gore, business, celebrity, climate, environmental movement, messaging, politics, TV (all these topics)

Peak Oil? Bring it on! Solving the climate problem will solve the peak oil problem, too	Joseph Romm	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
I have a new article in Salon on perhaps the most misunderstood subject in energy: peak oil. Here is the short version: We are at or near the peak of cheap conventional oil production. There is no realistic prospect that the conventional oil supply can keep up with current projected demand for much longer, if the industrialized countries don't take strong action to sharply reduce consumption, and if China and India don't take strong action to sharply reduce cons ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, energy, fuel efficiency, hybrids, oil, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

More signs of the Apocalypse? Soy, corn, and wheat prices puzzling economists	Tia Ghose	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Just in case you weren't worried about rising food prices, The New York Times has an article out that makes the food markets seem even more volatile. Apparently, identical bushels of corn, wheat, and soybeans are selling for two different prices on the derivatives and cash markets.Now, I'm not an economist, but the first line of the article makes the whole thing sound freakish. From the article: Economists note there should not be two prices for one thing at the same pla ...
Topics: agriculture, business, economy, food (all these topics)

When does additionality matter? Part 1 The deceptively simple concept at the heart of carbon markets	Adam Stein	30 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Sean recently wrote a provocative post on why 'additionality' -- one of the bedrock principles of carbon markets as presently designed -- is an expensive waste of time. This is a rich topic, and my perspective as a carbon offset retailer differs from his as an energy producer. It's worth spending a few posts exploring why.When we ask whether a greenhouse-gas reduction is 'additional,' we're asking if it would have happened in the absence of whatever incentive we've ...
Topics: business, carbon offsets, climate, energy (all these topics)

Survey says ... environment and economy not mutually exclusive! Americans favor conservation and see economically sound opportunities in protection	Anna Fahey	29 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Standard survey questions often uphold (or manufacture) false dichotomies. Case in point: the perpetual practice of pitting the environment against the economy. Nonetheless, these questions can reveal interesting trends over time. And every now and then, the numbers show that the public sees right through 'either/or' questions that just don't add up -- like recent research that shows Americans link economic opportunity to environmental protection. First, recent trends ...
Topics: business, coal, economy, energy, green jobs, natural gas, oil (all these topics)

The Clorox debacle continues Sierra Club removes leadership of its Florida chapter	Guest author	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay from Peter Montague1, executive director of the Environmental Research Foundation. ----- The Sierra Club's national board voted on March 25 to remove the leaders of the Club's 35,000-member Florida chapter, and to suspend the chapter for four years. It was the first time in the Club's 116-year history that such action has been taken against a state chapter. The leadership of the Florida chapter had been highly critical of the national ...
Topics: business, Florida, green cleaning, greenwashing, Sierra Club (all these topics)

Toward a green economy Two NYT pieces exploring green jobs	Joseph Romm	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Kari Manlove, fellows assistant at the Center for American Progress. ----- If you're interested in the media's version of Green Jobs 101, a good place to start is Wednesday's New York Times article, 'Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar.' But it's not a perfect start, because the article fails to demonstrate an understanding of the scale of this movement, and the author could have taken heed to one of his co-worker's piec ...
Topics: business, Competitive Enterprise Institute, economy, environmental movement, green jobs (all these topics)

Carbon policy details: Part 3 Carbon taxes vs. carbon trading	Sean Casten	28 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is the third post in a series about details we are still getting wrong in the climate policy discussion. See also part one and part two. There is no shortage of economic analysis and policy discourse that shows that carbon tax and cap-and-trade methodologies can deliver economically equivalent outcomes. The general consensus -- at least today -- seems to be that since they're equivalent, it really comes down to politics, and it's politically difficult to do anyt ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Casten gospel reaches NYT	David Roberts	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Congrats to our own Sean Casten for getting the following letter to the editor in The New York Times: Re "States' Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock" ("The Energy Challenge" series, March 20): Proponents of coal-fired power argue falsely that coal is cheap. Coal is a cheap fuel. But who cares? Coal can't run an iPod. And electricity from coal -- which also includes fuel, maintenance and capital recovery costs -- ...
Topics: business, coal, energy, renewable energy (all these topics)

Windfalls Why consumer protection means selling carbon permits	Eric de Place	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
One of the thorniest problems in cap-and-trade programs is deciding how to distribute the carbon permits. Should the public sell pollution privileges or give them away for free? Some folks worry that if we make polluters pay for carbon permits, they'll just raise prices for consumers. That's a perfectly legitimate concern. Unfortunately it turns out to be true, whether we sell the permits or give them away for free. Prices rise by the same amount in either scenario ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, economy (all these topics)

Don't look now, but clean tech is contributing to climate progress New report on massive growth of renewables last year	Joseph Romm	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Climate Progress is the title of my blog posts' main home, as much as the 'progress' part strains credulity at times. I only see two major quantitative areas of sustained progress: clean energy deployment (especially in Europe) and private sector clean-tech funding. Those folk at Clean Edge, who wrote the best 2007 book on clean tech, The Clean Tech Revolution, have quantified these gains -- and made predictions about the future -- in a new report you can read here. S ...
Topics: biofuels, business, energy, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics)

Commute conundrum Should emissions from employee commutes be included in company GHG inventories?	Guest author	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Kevin Luten of UrbanTrans, a sustainable transportation consulting firm working in Australia and the United States. He is based in Melbourne. ----- When businesses dip a toe in the rising sea of corporate action on climate change, the first box they check before diving in involves tabulating their own greenhouse-gas inventory. In getting your corporate house in order, the first step is defining where your yard ends and your neighbor' ...
Topics: public transportation, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, greening biz operations, business, cars (all these topics)

Mood in the hood	Sir Oolius	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
John Hofmeister, President of Shell Oil Company, was on Charlie Rose Tuesday night. About 22 minutes into the segment, he says the following [my own transcription]: If we don't drill more in this country, I am quite concerned about civil disturbances in our urban areas because of the price of fuel. ... I was meeting in Los Angeles with mayor Villaraigosa and I asked him a specific question because I lived there during the Rodney King civil disturbances. [I] said, ' ...
Topics: Big Oil, business, energy, oil, quotables (all these topics)

Prasad responds Carbon taxes work when there's substitutability and revenue is locked down for environmental goals	Guest author	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest post by Northwestern University assistant professor of sociology Monica Prasad, who wrote an op-ed in Tuesday's New York Times called "On Carbon: Tax, Don't Spend." It elicited responses from David Roberts and Charles Komanoff. ----- Thanks to David and Charlie for picking up on and responding to my carbon tax op-ed. I've learned a lot from Grist, so I was happy to see this. Some responses to their criticisms. David's beef is with the ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, climate, Denmark, economy, Norway (all these topics)

Passover as if the earth matters A call to action: Street Speakout Seders	Guest author	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center of Philadelphia. For information on eco-policy issues and Street Speakout Seders, email the center. ----- Photo: iStockphoto The traditional Passover Haggadah teaches that in every generation, some Pharaoh will arise in destruction, and that in every generation, every human being -- not just every Jew -- must look upon herself or himself as if it is we -- not our ancestors ...
Topics: Big Auto, Big Oil, business, grassroots activism, green living, politics, religion and spirituality (all these topics)

Another entrant in the $1/watt solar sweepstakes Cost of solar cells may be driven down dramatically	David Roberts	26 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Well lookie here! A series of manufacturing process improvements could make the cost of electricity from silicon-based solar cells comparable to today's prices for coal generation within about four years, according to a company emerging out of stealth today. The company, 1366 Technologies, will be using technologies developed in MIT labs to reduce the manufacturing costs of standard-issue multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. They say they can ultimately reduce ...
Topics: business, carbon sequestration, coal, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

The Fine Print Software calculates eco-impact of printers and copiers		26 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 4:54 PM on 26 Mar 2008 Xerox is offering a new software calculator to help companies reduce the energy suckage of printers, copiers, and other newfangled technology. The calculator will consider factors including type of print cartridge, print color, speed, number of pages printed per month, and Energy Star rating, then create bar graphs demonstrating energy consumption, greenhouse gases, and solid waste produced fr ...
Topics: business, energy, energy efficiency, greening biz operations, news, tech (all these topics)

A Spend in Need Americans want to spend on green, but can't figure out how, says study		26 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 1:29 PM on 26 Mar 2008 Americans are primed to spend up to $104 billion on "green" technologies this year -- but don't know where to find them, says a new study. Which seems crazy, considering the plethora of green-shopping websites and companies joining in on the "green revolution," but what do we know? According to the survey conducted by Rockbridge Associates, some half of the ...
Topics: business, consumerism, news, shopping, tech (all these topics)

Mind Your Business NYT offers special section on green biz		26 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 10:36 AM on 26 Mar 2008 The Sierra Club is embarking on its first product endorsement, putting its logo on Clorox's new Green Works cleaning products. Various businesses are aiming to bypass carbon neutrality and move straight on into carbon negativity. These and more stories show up in a New York Times "Business of Green" section Wednesday, which covers the green-biz gamut, from companies trying to manufacture safer ...
Topics: business, carbon neutral, climate, energy, green jobs, greening biz operations, greenish companies, news, Sierra Club, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

On carbon: Tax, and spend wisely What investments should be made with carbon tax revenue?	David Roberts	26 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Monica Prasad had an op-ed in The New York Times yesterday called "On Carbon: Tax, Don't Spend." It's ... peculiar. This basic pitch: "if reducing emissions is the goal, then a carbon tax is a tax you want to impose but never collect." That is to say, per the headline, you Don't Spend the tax revenue. Far as I can tell, though, what Prasad calls not spending looks al lot like what the rest of us call spending. She says the revenue from the tax ...
Topics: business, carbon tax, climate, Denmark, economy (all these topics)

The biggest source of mistakes: carbon vs. carbon dioxide A factor of 3.67 makes a big difference when discussing climate	Joseph Romm	25 Mar 2008	Gristmill
The biggest source of confusion and errors in climate discussions probably concerns 'carbon' versus 'carbon dioxide.' I was reminded of this last week when I saw an analysis done for a major environmental group that confused the two and hence was wrong by a large factor (3.67). The paragraph I usually include in my writing: Some people use carbon rather than carbon dioxide as a metric. The fraction of carbon in carbon dioxide is the ratio of their weights. The atomic ...
Topics: business, climate, climate science, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

ECO:nomics: A chat with Jim Rogers Duke Energy CEO defends the need for free permit allocations	David Roberts	25 Mar 2008	Gristmill
One of the most interesting political dynamics emerging around climate policy is the clash between coal utilities and utilities that rely more on natural gas and nuclear. (Most of the former are regulated, while most of the latter are, to one extent or another, deregulated or restructured.) Gas and nuke utilities stand to benefit from a cap-and-trade program that prices carbon steeply and quickly, since their fleets are already (relatively) low-carbon. Coal utilities ...
Topics: business, carbon trading, climate, energy, greenish companies, interview (all these topics)

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