Posted by Phil Gutis in Green Enterprise , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Late last month, we moved fast and became one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who trashed a clunker as part of the government's Cash for Clunkers program. Thanks to the government subsidy, we received more than $4,500 for...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
It felt good, I'll admit, to see the headline on The New York Times website last night. Apparently the $1 billion fund Congress had provided for the Cash for Clunkers program was almost exhausted. In less than a week, more...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
More than a year ago, I came out of the closet. (No, not that one. I’ve been out of that closet for decades.) I came out as an owner of a SUV, a hulking 1998 Ford Explorer that my husband...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment
During last year's election campaign, I often turned to FiveThirtyEight.com and its lead blogger Nate Silver for the best analysis of the electoral numbers and polling trends. Since then, I've seen Nate repeatedly on various MSNBC shows and he continues...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Reviving the World's Oceans , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
I am determined. Next winter, Tim and I will travel to Baja California and Laguna San Ignacio to witness for ourselves a ritual almost too impossible to believe: mother whales encouraging their newborns to interact with humans. NRDC preserved the...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , The Media and the Environment
Three and a half years ago, the editors of NRDC's quarterly magazine OnEarth published a particularly arresting cover image of a chubby baby boy. The special report he illustrated was also particularly arresting: "Hundreds of man-made chemicals are interfering with...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Living Sustainably , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In recent weeks, I've discovered an affinity for gardening. For the first time, the mosquitos and the bugs and the heat haven't deadened my will to get my hands dirty. I've especially come to appreciate the experience of pulling weeds...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I took a day off today and spent a good portion of it with Tim as we put the results of the latest shopping trip into the ground and in terra cotta pots on the deck. In the late afternoon,...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
A few days ago, a tanker truck worked its way up my driveway and plugged into my propane tank. About a thousand dollars later, it pulled away and slipped off to make its next delivery. Nothing newsworthy there. That’s typically...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , U.S. Law and Policy
Update, 11:31 eastern, from the NRDC News Release: More than 110,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas companies as a result of a ruling last night by Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Call me a masochist. I've been doing some reading of Jimmy Carter's speeches lately and I'm struck by two points: he called for all the right stuff when it came to energy policy, but, and most importantly, he fell completely...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in The Media and the Environment
During my Washington days at the ACLU, we worked quite often with the good folks at the consumer action group Public Citizen, which was originally founded by Ralph Nader in 1971. That's why I noticed a LA Times column about...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Living Sustainably
The family gathered this weekend to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday. Knowing that I was going to be joining them, my 11-year-old nephew Ethan proudly wore a t-shirt that made the following argument: "Trees make air. Homework kills trees. Homework causes...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in The Media and the Environment
This is a story of old versus new, of ink-on-paper versus pixels on a screen. It is a story of advocacy writing and social networks. Fundamentally it is a story of the future and it is not a happy story...continued→
Posted by Phil Gutis in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
A few days ago, a bunch of us left NRDC's office and walked a few blocks downtown after work to hear a talk by Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. The event -- organized by NRDC Trustee Wendy Schmidt --...continued→
