Author Archives: Kit Stolz

Nobel Prize Winner Sees Climate Disaster Ahead

According to Andy Revkin’s invaluable Dot Earth, Nobel Prize winner F. Sherwood Rowland foresees atmospheric CO2 soaring to the level of 1,000 parts per million, two or three times what most experts (such as James Hansen) consider sustainable, resulting in a disastrously different planet.   This brings to mind news of the filming of "TheContinue reading “Nobel Prize Winner Sees Climate Disaster Ahead”

Betrayal, Says McClellan. No Problem, Says McCain

This morning Byron York, who is an excellent reporter even if he does work for the National Review, summarized the moment in press secretary Scott McClellan’s career when he went from spokesman for the President to critic of the President. The first [defining moment] was when McClellan told reporters that he had talked to KarlContinue reading “Betrayal, Says McClellan. No Problem, Says McCain”

Honor a Veteran: Avoid Unnecessary War

Arguably the most surprising political magazine in the country today is The American Conservative, because it is firmly — passionately — anti-imperialist, pro-local, and pro-poetry. It’s the one magazine I read today that makes me rethink who I am on a routine basis. Here’s a fascinating column by Bill Kaufman, about a mostly forgotten SDSContinue reading “Honor a Veteran: Avoid Unnecessary War”

The Tax That Might Just Save the World

Those wild-haired nutjobs at the Financial Times explain. Using statistics and studies to delve below the obvious (prices go up, people become conscious of their energy useage — and waste). It’s textbook economics: In the long run, simple energy saving should trim energy demand by 3 to 5 per cent for each 10 per centContinue reading “The Tax That Might Just Save the World”

Obama: Can He Be Trusted on Coal?

For enviros concerned about global warming, nothing matters more than opposing the construction of new coal plants, in this country and around the world. That’s because coal is by far the most carbon intensive of all fuels. James Hansen, the world’s leading climatologist, has been talking about its menace for years. In an op-ed publishedContinue reading “Obama: Can He Be Trusted on Coal?”

Keeping Dead Orangutans Out of Your Hair

Good to see my fellow writer on Grist, Glenn Hurowitz, pop up in the Los Angeles Times. His op-ed against the use of palm oil is a good model, I think, of how to firmly but fairly encourage people not to use products that destroy planetary health. He writes: While showering a few weeks ago,Continue reading “Keeping Dead Orangutans Out of Your Hair”

Presidential Candidates Won’t Kill to be Elected

This presidential election, for the first time in decades, will not feature candidates for the highest office in the land donning hunting gear and going out with guns to shoot small animals. The contrast to the 2004 election, in which both candidates made a publicity stunt out of killing for votes, is stark. In SeptemberContinue reading “Presidential Candidates Won’t Kill to be Elected”

No More Boiled Frogs! Dragons, Please

James Fallows of The Atlantic has been banging on against the boiled frog metaphor often used to describe the slow public reaction to the threat of climate change. Why? One reason: it’s not true (here). Personally, I’m sick and tired of the canary in a coal mine metaphor, but at least that has a basisContinue reading “No More Boiled Frogs! Dragons, Please”