Articles by Adam Browning

No, it’s not a disease

Gesundheit.

I know biofuels are terrible and will starve us, but check out this Newsweek article on Jatropha. When I was in the Peace Corps in Guinee-Bissau, we used this to grow living fences to keep the goats out of our gardens. It's the growingest plant I've ever seen -- whack off a branch from your neighbor's hedge with a machete, stick it in the ground, and presto, it sprouts like a weed, no irrigation needed.

Michael Pollan and Whole Foods guy go head to head

For those who read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, you know he takes Whole Foods to task for greenwashing the industrialization of a food movement that's trying to be more sustainable. Then the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods took Pollan to task right back.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the two will appear before a paying audience at UC Berkeley and attempt to hug it out. For those who don't want to pay and/or leave their homes, there will be a live webcast on Tuesday night. And as any fourth grader will tell you, that's the safest place to be during a food fight.

Pelosi hears from enviros on climate change legislation

Last Wednesday, Speaker Pelosi held a roundtable discussion on climate change in San Francisco, followed by a press conference.

She said -- no news here -- that she's determined to introduce an energy and climate package on July 4th, (energy) Independence Day. In preparation, she's instructed relevant committee chairs to move their bits of legislation through their committees by early June.

She got a lot of advice -- some of it, given that this is the environmental community, conflicting.

Only it’s Abu Dhabi

Except it's Abu Dhabi investing $350 million in a 500 MW solar plant. My colleague JP Ross just traveled there and met with those guys -- they are serious as a heart attack about building large-scale, central-station solar power.

When even these guys get it ...

In unrelated news, I once heard a story about a company that was entirely dependent for their raw materials on a single supplier. This company heard that their supplier was investing in other products, but thought nothing of it. Soon, the supplier announced they were out of the raw material, and the company went bankrupt. Sad story, huh?