Author Archive

Louisiana’s Gulf Coast adapts to global warming’s rising seas

Marketplace: In southern Louisiana, the coast is moving. The sea is overtaking the land...pretty fast, too. Stronger hurricanes and tropical storms predicted for coming decades will wash away more of it. And while you often hear people invoke the rich cultural heritage as a reason to save the region, there’s a lot of rich oil and gas companies that would like protection, too. Terrebonne Parish is the setting for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," last year’s Oscar-nominated film about a magical little girl and...

Climate change, fracking to take center stage in 2013

Marketplace: As the year comes to a close, we're looking ahead to what's next in 2013. We've got predictions for Washington, health care, and investing, but where are we headed when it comes to energy and the environment? Marketplace sustainability reporter Scott Tong shares his take on a few hot button issues coming to the fore. On what's next for fracking: "A lot of people are thinking about this. It's happening in their backyards, so the inherent opposition to it is going to get louder. The federal...

Bringing the climate fight to the table

Marketplace: There are more than 7 billion people living on the planet now, and it looks like there'll be another 2 billion of us by the middle of the century. In our series, "Food for 9 Billion," we've been asking what it's going to take to keep us all fed. Over the last year, we've looked at how to boost food production without destroying the environment, how to deal with water shortages and climate change, and how to get policies right on things like food prices and nutrition. We've also looked at the demand...

Keystone XL oil sands myths and half-truths

Marketplace: Jeremy Hobson: What do you really know about the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline? The one that would bring a certain type of oil, called oil sands or tar sands, from Canada to the United States? One thing we know is that the pipeline has become a political hot potato in Washington. And as with everything that becomes a big political issue there, some of the facts get lost in translation. Marketplace's Scott Tong from our Sustainability Desk has been to the oil sands and has this reality check....