By Henry Miller & Drew L. Kershen
Although the public is almost completely unaware, today, more than three-quarters of all food crops have been directly and dramatically altered by humans using various processes, some relatively crude, by random experimentation, taking decades and even centuries, others extremely...
While most Californians sleep at night, there must be a group somewhere that stays up thinking of something else to ban. How else to explain the unrelenting march of prohibitions, from single-use plastic bags – directly approved by voters – to plastic straws, to gasoline-powered...
Earth Day is this week. A day set aside to celebrate “the planet’s clean natural resources”, which is now synonymous with alleviating the costs associated with global climate change. Since alternative technologies are viewed as clean resources that will solve the problem of global climate change, the...
The first Earth Day celebration, a nationwide environmental teach-in, held in 1970, was the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who was interested in environmental issues. He recruited Rep. Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded liberal Republican congressman, to serve as his co-chair, and they...
Earth Day, which has been observed every April 22 since 1970, was established to educate the public about air and water pollution. Nothing wrong with that. No one wants to live on a dirty planet. But shouldn’t there be another dimension? How about celebrating what...
When most people hear about oil, as in petroleum, they think of what gets refined to produce gasoline. But it’s more. Much more. From clothes to dentures to lipstick and even toothpaste, the number of household products made from chemicals based on fossil fuels numbers in the...
By Chris Carr
The California Supreme Court last week declined to stay a lower court order in a case involving a housing and classroom complex under construction on the UC Berkeley campus. This will effectively shut the door to one of America’s finest public universities for...
Cities and states are attempting to set the nation’s energy policies through the judicial system rather than the appropriate legislative process. Dozens of states and localities including New York City, Baltimore, and various California cities have filed suits claiming that oil and gas companies should...
Popular wisdom is often wrong. Consider, for example, how it views organic agriculture, which has grown to a $48 billion a year industry in the U.S. Organic products are sold at outlets ranging from local farmers' markets to large supermarket chains, and many people assume that there...
Advocates and public officials blame a growing number of seemingly unrelated phenomena, from tornadoes to medical problems, on climate change. As the list grows, they call for policies to tackle the putative crisis, while overlooking the flaws in their preferred solutions.
Consider, for example, the rush into electrification to...
Public trust, safety, and genetic engineering
By Henry Miller & Drew L. Kershen Although the public is almost completely unaware, today, more than three-quarters of all food crops have been directly and dramatically altered by humans using various processes, some relatively crude, by random experimentation, taking decades and even centuries, others extremely...
A Little Truth About Microplastics
While most Californians sleep at night, there must be a group somewhere that stays up thinking of something else to ban. How else to explain the unrelenting march of prohibitions, from single-use plastic bags – directly approved by voters – to plastic straws, to gasoline-powered...
To Help The Earth Let’s Acknowledge The Limits Of Alternative Energy
Earth Day is this week. A day set aside to celebrate “the planet’s clean natural resources”, which is now synonymous with alleviating the costs associated with global climate change. Since alternative technologies are viewed as clean resources that will solve the problem of global climate change, the...
Earth Day Has Become Polluted By Political Correctness And Ignorance
The first Earth Day celebration, a nationwide environmental teach-in, held in 1970, was the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who was interested in environmental issues. He recruited Rep. Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded liberal Republican congressman, to serve as his co-chair, and they...
Celebrate What Earth Has Given Man
Earth Day, which has been observed every April 22 since 1970, was established to educate the public about air and water pollution. Nothing wrong with that. No one wants to live on a dirty planet. But shouldn’t there be another dimension? How about celebrating what...
What are acetogens? And how could synthetic biology turn oil, coal and other fossil fuels into green, carbon-negative chemicals?
When most people hear about oil, as in petroleum, they think of what gets refined to produce gasoline. But it’s more. Much more. From clothes to dentures to lipstick and even toothpaste, the number of household products made from chemicals based on fossil fuels numbers in the...
UC Berkeley Case Shows Why Comprehensive Reform Badly Needed to End CEQA Abuse
By Chris Carr The California Supreme Court last week declined to stay a lower court order in a case involving a housing and classroom complex under construction on the UC Berkeley campus. This will effectively shut the door to one of America’s finest public universities for...
States and Municipal Lawsuits Undermine Innovative Climate Solutions
Cities and states are attempting to set the nation’s energy policies through the judicial system rather than the appropriate legislative process. Dozens of states and localities including New York City, Baltimore, and various California cities have filed suits claiming that oil and gas companies should...
Europe’s Alternative Reality for Reducing Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Popular wisdom is often wrong. Consider, for example, how it views organic agriculture, which has grown to a $48 billion a year industry in the U.S. Organic products are sold at outlets ranging from local farmers' markets to large supermarket chains, and many people assume that there...
The Wrong Solutions: Climate Change Policies Increasingly Embrace Unreality
Advocates and public officials blame a growing number of seemingly unrelated phenomena, from tornadoes to medical problems, on climate change. As the list grows, they call for policies to tackle the putative crisis, while overlooking the flaws in their preferred solutions. Consider, for example, the rush into electrification to...