Articles by Christopher Mims

Switching from coal to natural gas would accelerate climate change, say scientists

Here is a terrifying, crazy-making truth: Getting off coal will accelerate climate change, at least in the short term.

How Obama kinda completely missed the boat in his jobs speech

Let's you and me sit down and have some RealTalk™ for a minute: President Obama's jobs speech last night was about as good as it could get -- in the absence of any mention of the core driver of our ongoing global economic recession, which, need I remind you, is probably going to go double-dip.

Here's what he left out, neatly described in a hip, watchable video produced by the folks at the Post Carbon Institute.

Moving documentary on ferry drivers who rescued 9/11 refugees

Could ammonia be the zero-carbon fuel we've been waiting for?

Ammonia would make a pretty handy, potentially carbon-free liquid transportation fuel, say engineers, and it could be produced right at gas stations using electricity from the grid, water, and air.