Accidents on Oil Rigs? Business as Usual – September 2, 2010

My email accounts, Twitter feeds, and RSS alerts have been blowing up all morning with the news that an offshore oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded earlier today. Thirteen workers were evacuated off the platform, which is operated by Mariner Energy, and according to the most recent reports, a 100-feet-wide and one-mile-long oil sheen has been spotted not far from the accident site. Feels like déjà vu all over again.

Yet I have to wonder: Would this incident have even registered a blip on the national media’s radar screen had it not been for all of the attention directed at the Gulf oil industry because of… more

by: Jason Mark

(0) Comments

Big Banks Pull Away from Dirty Businesses – August 31, 2010

Good News Shows Potential for Progress Outside of Washington

Today’s New York Times has a front page story delivering some sorely needed good news: Many of the world’s biggest banks — including giants like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and HSBC — are voluntarily reducing their investments in environmentally destructive practices such as mountaintop removal coal mining and tar sands extraction in Canada.

Times reporter Tom Zeller Jr. writes:

“ … The rise of murkier issues like global warming, along with increasing scrutiny by environmental groups of banks’ investments in many other industries — like oil and gas development, nuclear power, coal-fired electricity generation, oil sands, fuel pipeline construction, dam building, forestry and even… more

by: Jason Mark

(0) Comments

The Lid Is Off Pandora’s Box – August 23, 2010

Genetically Modified Canola Is Loose in the Environment

Since the advent of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), critics have warned about the dangers of manipulating plants’ inherent makeup. Ecologists cautioned that genetically engineered (GE) crops could spread throughout the environment, creating new organisms that scientists never designed, forming “superweeds” that would be hard to eliminate, and threatening biodiversity — the cornerstone of any healthy ecosystem.

Biotech companies like Monstanto poo-pooed such concerns. Well, turns out the Cassandras were right.

According to a study by a team of researchers from the University of Arkansas, GE canola has gone feral across much of North Dakota. The researchers traveled 3,000 miles across the back roads of North… more

by: Jason Mark

(0) Comments

Frack (Counter) Attack – August 17, 2010

Keep Your Eye on this Environmental Battleground

Throughout this steamy, restless summer, most greens were consumed with fighting one of two battles: Either struggling to hold BP accountable for its giant mess in the Gulf of Mexico, or else fighting to defend the ultimately doomed climate legislation in the US Senate. But in communities across the country, from the arid Rocky Mountain West to the dairy lands of New York and Pennsylvania, another environmental battle is rumbling: The efforts to halt, suspend, or, at the very least, learn more about the natural gas extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing.

If you haven’t yet seen the eco-indie flick Gasland, or read… more

by: Jason Mark

(0) Comments

Don Blankenship: The Id of Corporate America – August 12, 2010

With the unemployment rate stuck above 10 percent, the economy struggling to shake itself out of a recession, and memories still vivid of the financial meltdown two years ago, corporate executives seem to have decided that the best thing to do is lay low. Gone, it seems, are the days of CEO swagger, when men like GE’s Jack Welch (“If it bothers you, yell at it. Kick it. Scream at it. Break it!”) and Citigroup’s Sandy Weil (who had a plaque reading “Shatterer Of Glass-Steagall” on his wall) imperiously ruled American business. Cockiness is out, humility is in. The best example of this might… more

by: Jason Mark

(1) Comments

Older →

View Posts by Date View Posts by Author