I spoke with a friend the other day, one of those rare individuals who'd passed his 87th birthday with a clear perspective on life that went beyond even his years, and heard from him a frustration that has been echoed both by others of his generation and by those who...

When my consulting clients ask me why they should green their office in a recession when monetary pressures are only expected to increase, I remind them that the Chinese use two separate brush strokes to write the word 'crisis':

危機

One character stands for danger; the other...

There are times in history when it is best for a people to move on from past mistakes. There are other times, such as now, when the past cries out to be explored. For those who are searching for meaning to the last eight years, a new book by American...

President Obama has issued an order to the EPA to determine if states may restrict automobile emissions, reversing a long and legal tug of war between the states and the former Bush Administration.

WASHINGTON - Plunging into energy and climate change policies, President Barack Obama on Monday moved to...

President-elect Obama has shown that he is serious about picking the right person to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with his choice of Jane Lubchenco, an expert in overfishing and climate change who should have firsthand knowledge of the collapse of fishing along the Oregon coast....

There has been a great deal of reporting, speculation, finger pointing and denials on the Mumbai attacks, much of which has focused on trees (dots) instead of forests.

After reading with empathy and horror of the death and destruction, the question remained, who was behind this and why? The Indian...

On January 1st, 2007, the Presidential Climate Action Plan (PCAP), a project of the University of Colorado, Wirth Chair in Environmental and Community Development Policy, was launched to produce a 100 day action plan on climate change for the next President of the United States.

PCAP's final report, due...

When the Center for Biological Diversity's 2006 request to have Alaska's beluga whales put on the endangered list came up for consideration last April, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin questioned the scientific evidence that the population was declining and lobbied for a six month delay to count the whales.

The answer...

John McCain missed the single greatest opportunity to address his most dangerous supporters directly and to repudiate their threats of violence after Senator Obama brought up the threats in the debate. McCain chose not to do so, calling them "fringe" while lauding ALL his supporters as "patriotic."

This came after...

An EU study has concluded the economic impact of world forest loss exceeds the current banking crisis. The study by economists, which quantified the vital services the worlds' forests provide (absorbing carbon dioxide, cleaning water) places the cost of the disappearing forests between $2 and $5 trillion per year.

There is a scene in Herman Wouk's book, War and Remembrance: a writer leaves a stockade following a beating to find the guards who'd brought him there engaged in an impromptu game of soccer.

The writer's epiphany comes in this assessment: "We're in the hands of adolescents."

I am not...

Have you thought about what America will be like two years into the next administration?

The following offers four scenarios:

First scenario -- McCain:

It is 2010. President McCain has fired the head of the SEC, FEC, FCC, SIPC (note spelling)... and has formed the M.F.I. Commission to study...

The disregard for the truth by the McCain campaign has produced lies so big that even those that support Senator McCain are hard-pressed to deny that they're lies.

So why the recent flood of such big lies?

While they may be meant to reach undecided voters (they'd be happy...

John McCain's attempted co-opt of the Obama campaign's change message avoids the fact that McCain has surrounded himself with a campaign staff of top Washington Republican lobbyists:

When McCain huddled with his closest advisers at his rustic Arizona cabin last weekend to map out his presidential campaign, virtually every...

In a polemic penned by George Bush's former speechwriter, Sarah Palin attempted to define Barack Obama as her equal and John McCain as above them both, while avoiding any subject of substance.

Sorry, Sarah, that husky don't hunt.

Palin's (Matthew Scully's) speech revealed a surprising parallel to George Bush --...

I was in a doctor's waiting room recently, listening to pundits on a big-screen TV, when a middle-aged man turned to me and stated:

"Too much spin."

His reaction was not what I'd expected, considering the gentleman had identified himself earlier as a Republican and the pundits he'd complained about...

A recent NYT article has detailed the dysfunction of the McCain campaign, in what the authors referred to as a "loose style" of "infighting" and "colliding centers of power," providing a picture of a McCain campaign divided by competing interests and unclear leadership.

Mr. McCain is called the White...

The AARP's Divided We Fail initiative released a survey today of swing voters in battleground states, those identified as older, lower income, mostly white women, who said their decision would be based, primarily, upon the economy. Not a surprise, considering the state of same, but one that bears...

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency charged with "ensuring the integrity of the futures & options market," has accused the trading firm, Optiver Holding, of manipulating the prices of crude oil, heating oil and gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first complaint announced since their...

John McCain speaks of his ability to "win wars" using the "surge" as his example. This is surprising, as this was the strategy that was first implemented in 2005 by U.S. Army Colonel H.R. McMaster, in what he called "Clear, Hold and Build;" a strategy that may have reduced the...