Green Fatigue

Will Phoenix's Sustainability Goal Save or Cost Us Millions?

How Not to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With a DUI Arrest

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Hot Take: Phoenix Summer Temps Could Approach Kuwait City's by 2100, New Study Says

By Ray Stern
Jul 22, 2016

Think it's hot out now? Summertime high temperatures in Phoenix will average 10 degrees hotter by the year 2100 — as hot as current-day Kuwait City — according to new projections by the nonprofit group Climate Central. Worse, average daily temperatures in the hottest months will probably be three to five...
First Confirmed Case of West Nile Virus in Maricopa County

By Miriam Wasser
Jul 7, 2015

As the monsoon season makes its annual return, so too will the mosquitoes—particularly the ones carrying West Nile Virus. In fact, the Arizona Department of Health Services announced today that a Maricopa County man in his late 50s has already contracted the disease this year. And though he has recovered,...
Arizona Among "Worst Locations for Solar" If Goal Is Better Air Quality, Study Says

By Ray Stern
Jun 27, 2013

Arizona, New Mexico, and California are among the worst places in the country to subsidize solar and wind projects if better air quality is the goal, a new study says.The best bang for the buck in terms of improving public health, according to Carnegie Mellon University researchers, could be had...
Nancy Selover, State Climatologist, Doesn't Really Expect 100-Degree Winters in Phoenix, Despite Republic Article

By Ray Stern
Nov 5, 2012

We had a temporary, though intense, urge to flee the state after reading Michael Clancy's climate-change apocalypse story in today's Arizona Republic. Clancy's story describes how climate change could turn Arizona from the paradise it is today into a scorched, polluted, economically challenged wasteland that swelters in winter as well...
Natural-Gas Exec Promotes Fuel, Slams Electric and Compact Cars During Road Trip in Hummer; Will Give $2,500 to Phoenix School

By Ray Stern
Apr 27, 2011

A Pittsburgh natural-gas exec and his wife will donate $2,500 to a central Phoenix school on Friday as part of their cross-country trip in an alternative-fuel-powered Hummer H3, which they say pollutes less than a Smart Car. Murry Gerber served as CEO for EQT, a major natural-gas producer in Pennsylvania, for 12...
"Border Trash" Web Site Launched by State to Emphasize Problem; Volunteers for Cleanups Sought

By Ray Stern
Jan 3, 2011

A new Web site launched by the state of Arizona emphasizes the problem of litter from illegal border crossers and seeks volunteers for cleanups. AzBorderTrash.gov was funded by state and federal money, according to the site, leaving one of our Facebook friends to wonder why Arizona considers trash-dumping by illegal immigrants to be more...
No-Burn Days in 2010 Generated 559 Complaints, but Little Action by Maricopa County

By Ray Stern
Dec 29, 2010

Hundreds of people called Maricopa County this year to complain about people violating restrictions on wood-burning. Despite the Valley's ongoing problem with bad air, though, those calls resulted in almost no action by the county. The county's Air Quality Department announced 11 no-burn days in 2010, and received 559 complaints based on...
No-Burn Days Go Unenforced in Maricopa County for Christmas; Zero Warnings and Citations Issued

By Ray Stern
Dec 27, 2010

Nobody can label the folks over at Maricopa County's Air Quality Department a bunch of Scrooges. After a warning last week that no-burn days on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would be enforced, exactly zero warnings and citations were issued, a county official says. Oddly, all this non-enforcement happened despite the...
Chandler City Hall: Don't Drink From Toilets

By James King
Nov 11, 2010

If you see a toilet in Chandler's new City Hall, fight the urge and don't drink from it. Seems fairly obvious, but if you forget, the city's been kind enough to post signs as a reminder.In almost every bathroom in the new, uber-"green" facility are signs saying "Urinals and Toilets...
Morning Poll: Should "Sham" Green Party Candidates Remain on Ballot?

By James King
Sep 15, 2010

In the past week, two judges have ruled against the Green and Democratic parties' requests to have several Green Party candidates removed from the November ballot.The two parties feel the candidates are "sham" candidates getting used by Republicans to lure liberal voters away from voting for Democrats.Some of those candidates reportedly...
"Homeless" Green Party Candidates to Remain on Arizona Ballot -- for Now

By James King
Sep 10, 2010

www.solarnavigator.com Green Party candidates -- who the New York Times claims are "homeless" and who were dubbed by Arizona's Green Party as "sham" candidates -- can remain on the November ballot as the party's nominees for several offices, a federal judge ruled. This despite complaints that they're being used by Republicans to lure...
Amount of Water Lost in Town Lake Draining is Just Fraction of Run-off This Year

By Ray Stern
Aug 20, 2010

This is a desert. Nobody likes to see a billion gallons of water flushed down a hole in the middle of summer, which is what happened July 20 after one Tempe Town Lake's inflatable dams popped. But let's keep this in perspective, folks -- something today's Arizona Republic article about...
Matinee Energy Official Pushed Gold-Mine Scheme in 1980s, Now Behind $700 Million Solar Deal With Hyundai Heavy

By Ray Stern
Aug 16, 2010

One of the principals behind a company that claims to be bringing a 175-megawatt solar plant to southern Arizona was accused in the 1980s of running a bogus gold-mining scheme. Christopher E. Pannos, one of his brothers, James, and two other people were among those charged by the Federal Trade...
Earth Hour Event Planned by Maricopa County; Costs of Climate-Change-Awareness Program Unclear

By Ray Stern
Mar 26, 2010

Maricopa County is celebrating Earth Hour this year by shutting off "non-essential" lights for one hour at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. We decided to spend part of our Friday afternoon bugging county officials about this feel-good event, because our past research shows it typically costs governments and big companies more...
Global Warming Threatens Santa's Workshop and Reindeer, Expert Says

By Ray Stern
Dec 23, 2009

Global warming threatens to sink Santa's workshop and push reindeer toward extinction, a renowned climatologist tells New Times. As we've read in recent months, climate change could melt the ice cap at the North Pole during the summer in 10 to 20 years, according to some estimates. Scientists aren't sure...
EPA Sued for Failing to Act on Phoenix Area's Pollution Plan

By Ray Stern
Dec 9, 2009

Lisa Jackson, the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has been so focused on saving the world from America's greenhouse gases that she seems to have forgetten about serious pollution in the Phoenix area. Jackson is in Copenhagen this week for the international talks on carbon reductions, and on Monday...
Saguaro Cactus Rustler Sentenced to Eight Months in Prison Should Have Called APS

By Ray Stern
Nov 20, 2009

Two Tucson men were sentenced recently for stealing Saguaro cacti from inside Saguaro National Park, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. Joseph Tillman, 50, will serve eight months in federal prison. His buddy, Gregory James McKee, 42, was sentenced to six months of home confinement and 100 hours of community service. A park...
Solar Energy Snub: Feds Shortchange Arizona in Solar Study

By Ray Stern
Aug 18, 2009

The feds are going to study 670,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in six western states -- but only 16,000 of those acres are in Arizona. What an oversight! Those gloomy skies over Washington D.C. must have dimmed bureaucrats' minds. It's typically said that we get...
Phoenix Getting $830,000 From Feds for Cleaner Diesel Engine Technology; Valley Air to Get Infinitesimally Cleaner

By Ray Stern
Jul 17, 2009

The city of Phoenix announced today it will receive $830,000 in federal stimulus funds to "reduce diesel emissions by retrofitting and replacing city-owned equipment." Forgive us if we don't stand up and cheer. This money, half of which the feds are borrowing the future, isn't going to make a wisp...
Windmills in Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec Screw Over Landowning Farmers

By Ray Stern
Jun 24, 2009

At first glance, the Arizona Republic's business-section article today on windmills in La Venta, Mexico, looks like more happy news about "clean" energy. It's headlined, "Living off the wind," and shows a bucolic scene of cows grazing near towering windmills. A graphic about the ultra-windy Isthmus of Tehuantepec is titled,...

More Green Fatigue

Green Fatigue

Will Phoenix's Sustainability Goal Save or Cost Us Millions?

How Not to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With a DUI Arrest

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