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Wherein I finally get it all out

I realize we have long since passed the point of blog parody, with the number of words written about Revkin’s article now exceeding the number of words in the article […]

Cars

Joel Makower returns from the recently wrapped-up upcoming North American International Auto Show in Detroit and asks: Where was the green? On a related note, man oh man do I […]

We are down the rabbit hole

Holy snot! Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (yes, that Ted Stevens) is sponsoring a bill to increase CAFE standards — the very standards he voted to eliminate in 2002. This is […]

I still think Lieberman’s a turd

… but I was never torn about whether to support Joe Lieberman. Here’s what he’s up to now: Lieberman was praising Bush as a “great leader” for bucking American opinion, […]

Warming seas beget dying fish, GM unveils plug-in hybrid, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Better Not, Pout Happy Feat It’s All Sarovar Their Day in Cote Mercury Retrograde Read the articles mentioned at the […]

To race

Gore’s refusal to jump in or completely rule out a presidential run is driving Beltway journalists to distraction, forcing them to fill up column inches saying absolutely nothing. They want […]

It’s cool

More interesting details on Chevy’s wicked new quasi-electric kinda-plugin Volt from EcoGeek.

The nuclear bomb that almost blew up

Sometimes old news deserves attention: Ari Berman, of the lively Notion blog at The Nation, posts that we recently nearly saw an accidental nuclear detonation at the one plant for decommission and retirement of nuclear weapons in this country, run by Pantex in Amarillo, Tex.

He writes:

In March 2005, a nuclear warhead almost exploded in Texas. The near miss accident occurred in Amarillo, when workers at the Pantex nuclear weapons plant bungled the dismantling of a W-56 warhead, a weapon 100 times stronger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.

This emerged after a less-provocative-but-still-troubling story from Ralph Vartabedian at the L.A. Times, who revealed that the U.S. Department of Energy fined Pantex $110,000 for violations revealed after the incident, and has launched an investigation.

Sounds reasonable. But at the same time, the DOE declared that it had "confidence that Pantex will continue its outstanding work, while keeping stringent safety and security policies in place."

So why investigate?

Umbra on burning trash

Dear Umbra, We recycle and compost as best we can, but we are still left every week with some trash. Up to this point we’ve dutifully hauled it to the […]

The first installment in the wonkiest interview ever

A few months ago, I interviewed Terry Tamminen, author of Lives Per Gallon and, until recently, Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top environmental adviser. We talked for well over an hour […]