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A new cartoon from the Meatrix folks.

From the folks that brought you the legendary Meatrix comes Store Wars, the story of Cuke Skywalker, Ham Solo, and ... oh, man, I feel dumb even writing this.

It's funny, though. Go watch it.

Michael Klare makes the case.

Michael T. Klare has another great piece up on Tom Dispatch, this one about the logic of global energy, which is pushing pretty inexorably toward conflict.

With prices rising all over the world and serious shortages in the offing, every major consuming nation is coming under increasing pressure to maximize its relative share of the available energy supply. Inevitably, these pressures will pit one state against another in the competitive pursuit of oil and natural gas.

...

Indeed, once a problem like energy security has been tagged as a matter of national security, it passes from the realm of economics and statecraft into that of military policy. Then, the generals and strategists get into the act and begin their ceaseless planning for endless "contingencies" and "emergencies." In such an environment, small incidents evolve into crises, and crises into wars. Expect a hot couple of decades ahead.

Read the whole piece for the gory details.

What’s a PUV?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you …

... Mr. Floatie.

Now we know where it all went.

According to a new report, U.S. drivers stuck in traffic wasted 2.3 billion gallons of fuel in 2003 -- 69 million more than in 2002. This sobering fact brought to you by the Texas Transportation Insitute's most recent -- and somewhat incongrously named -- Urban Mobility Report.

Kenn Kaufman, birding guru, answers questions

Kenn Kaufman. What work do you do? I’m associated with National Audubon Society (currently as field editor for Audubon magazine), and I cooperate with other groups, but 90 percent of […]

Even the beer industry is running out of energy

Noted, in a Slate article about declining domestic beer sales: "Why are brewers crying in their beers? In part, they're facing the same difficulties as other manufacturers. Costs for raw materials and energy are rising, and they're having difficulty passing costs along to consumers."

The writer goes on to say, at great and happy length, that the real reason Bud and its ilk are a bust is because Americans have turned into a bunch of namby-pamby Cosmo drinkers. But his quick economic aside is a nod to the fact that the energy crisis creeps into all kinds of corners. How long do you s'pose the brewers will "have difficulty" passing those costs along?

And you thought the only environmental beer fear was genetically modified crops.

Umbra on winning environmental arguments

Dear Umbra, I’ve recently been debating my cousin about the merits of environmentalism, and he consistently attacks my positions by claiming that the studies that make the case that the […]

GE commits itself to clean energy tech.

Tomorrow, GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt will announce that his company -- the fifth largest in the U.S. -- is devoting itself to what it calls "ecomagination": the growth of clean energy, clean water, and related technologies.

This is a very big deal, about which Grist will have more to say. For now, go read Joel Makower, who -- as with most big moves in the sustainable business sphere -- has been working on this behind the scenes.

Ecomagination, says Immelt, aims to "focus our unique energy, technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure capabilities to develop tomorrow's solutions such as solar energy, hybrid locomotives, fuel cells, lower-emission aircraft engines, lighter and stronger materials, efficient lighting, and water purification technology."

By almost any measure, it's a bold move. For GE, the fifth-largest U.S. company, it represents a strategic shift that could catalyze competition among some of the world's largest companies to accelerate the emerging clean-tech economy.

Wouldn’t it suck if the earth was, like, blown up?

I saw The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yesterday. I can't say it has an overt environmental theme, but certain parts do inspire a certain nostalgia for the earth. The whole earth, I mean.

You see, at the very beginning of the flick, earth gets destroyed to make way for an intergalactic bypass. Later on, however, our hero runs into one of the guys who helped build it (turns out the entire planet was a supercomputer designed to ... oh, nevermind). And the guy has a back-up copy. Yes, of the whole earth.

Anyhoo, this leads to one of the movie's few real moments of sentiment, as a montage shows trees and fields, crashing waves, blooming flowers, windswept mountains, and damn if it doesn't make you think, "hey, earth is pretty cool!" That might not seem like much, but for a dedicated urbanite like myself, living in a digital world where images of nature are cheap from overuse, it's something.

(As for the overall movie ... eh. It has a certain charm, but mainly it's just a busy, frenzied flurry, attempting to squeeze in as much from the books as possible. I've read the books probably 10 times each, and I still couldn't quite tell you what the movie's plot was, or why it ended when it did. Worth a matinee, I suppose.)