Insights + Opinion

How the GDP Measures Everything ‘Except That Which Makes Life Worthwhile’

How the GDP Measures Everything ‘Except That Which Makes Life Worthwhile’

Governments, media and much of the public are preoccupied with the economy. That means demands such as those for recognition of First Nations treaty rights and environmental protection are often seen as impediments to the goal of maintaining economic growth. The gross domestic product has become a sacred indicator of well-being. Ask corporate CEOs and […]

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    Obama’s Nuke-Powered Drone Strike on America’s Energy Future

    Obama’s Nuke-Powered Drone Strike on America’s Energy Future

    So the “all the above” energy strategy now deems we dump another $6.5 billion in bogus loan guarantees down the atomic drain. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has announced finalization of hotly contested taxpayer handouts for the two Vogtle reactors being built in Georgia. Another $1.8 billion waits to be pulled out of your pocket and poured […]

    Exclusive: Duke Energy Ongoing Coal Ash Spill Into Dan River

    Exclusive: Duke Energy Ongoing Coal Ash Spill Into Dan River

    [This is the second article in a four-part series. Read part one, read part three, read part four.] In the wake of what may be the third largest coal ash spill in U.S. history, Waterkeeper Alliance deployed a disaster response team to assess the damage and monitor remediation efforts by Duke Energy and the of […]

    Pete Seeger: From Way Up Here the Earth Looks Very Small

    Pete Seeger: From Way Up Here the Earth Looks Very Small

    “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.”  —Words painted on Pete Seeger’s banjo A man with a banjo can be a powerful force for good. Pete Seeger, who died Jan. 27 at the age of 94, inspired generations of political and environmental activists with songs ranging from “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” […]

    Why Big Coal Operates in Constant State of Violation

    Why Big Coal Operates in Constant State of Violation

    The dirty secret in President Obama’s “all-of-the-above” energy policy was quietly overlooked in his State of the Union address. Three weeks after global media attention on the West Virginia coal-chemical disaster, the most important line of information still remains buried in an AP report: … [A] review of federal environmental enforcement records shows that nearly three-quarters of the […]

    Why Investing in Dirty Fuels is a Bad Idea

    Why Investing in Dirty Fuels is a Bad Idea

    A mind-boggling sum of about $800 for each person on the planet is invested into fossil fuel companies through the global capital markets alone. That’s roughly 10 percent of the total capital invested in listed companies. The amount of money invested into the 200 biggest fossil fuel companies through financial markets is estimated at 5.5 trillion dollars. […]

    Transporting Fossil Fuels: Rail vs. Pipeline is the Wrong Question

    Transporting Fossil Fuels: Rail vs. Pipeline is the Wrong Question

    Debating the best way to do something we shouldn’t be doing in the first place is a sure way to end up in the wrong place. That’s what’s happening with the “rail versus pipeline” discussion. Some say recent rail accidents mean we should build more pipelines to transport fossil fuels. Others argue that leaks, high […]

    President Obama Gives $1 Billion Game-Changing Gift to ‘Clean’ Coal

    President Obama Gives $1 Billion Game-Changing Gift to ‘Clean’ Coal

    In the same days an entrepreneur went on federal trial for fraud over an unproven “clean coal” scheme, President Obama’s Department of Energy (DOE) gave a game-changing approval for a $1 billion gift to continue the unproven FutureGen “clean coal” boondoggle in Illinois. Kind of ironic, ain’t it—if it weren’t so tragic. On the heels of the West Virginia coal-cleaning chemical disaster, […]