About three years ago, I sat next to a man on a plane who was watching “Pirates of the Caribbean” on his iPod.  I couldn’t imagine it being much fun, although the special effects probably looked more realistic on a viewer that defied serious scrutiny than on something like an Imax screen. Ever since then, I have noticed that Apple delivers many familiar products and services in formats that are much lower in carbon content than the ones they replace - - and might even be able to deliver an app that one day saves the entire planet from the dual impacts of climate change and an energy-inefficient economy.

In the same summer that something (or someone?) is punishing the eastern half of the US with record heat and all of its predictable consequences, Congress raised a white flag last week in the battle to regulate one of the primary contributors to the problem—carbon pollution.

Hitachi’s Plant Technologies division and two cities in Japan are selling treated sewage water to an iron ore mining company in West Australia for use in industrial processes that today consume scarce drinking water.

In a week that saw more oil wash over Gulf of Mexico shores and more oil lobbying money wash over Congress - - both with predictable results - - I thought we could all use some good news and reasons to be hopeful. I found that inspiration on a trip to Germany and the UK inside two companies that have very unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that the world faces today.

As thousands of young scholars bid farewell to familiar homes and high schools to enter college in the fall, it made me wonder where the smart money will be going.

The BP oil disaster is certainly not the first oil spill in US history, but it could be the last. Nor is this the our worst oil spill - - a Chevron refinery leaked over 250 million gallons of oil and refined product into aquifers beneath Los Angeles for decades before it was discovered in the 1970s (the cleanup will take a century to complete). 

I am very cautious about giving investment advice and downright reluctant to just pile onto the media frenzy attacking BP for its blunders in the Gulf of Mexico. 

That said, I feel compelled to warn America about the greater disaster that looms ahead for anyone who owns BP stock or anyone east of the Mississippi River who breathes.

As summer approaches, so do the action-fantasy movies.

Last week, the venue was not the local cineplex, but another location noted for outlandish egos, special effects, and scripts that require substantial amounts of imagination to fill in the gaps - - Washington DC.

The Cape Wind project just approved for the waters offshore of Massachusetts will pump $1 billion into the local economy and create clean, reliable wind energy for decades.

It’s that time of year again. Earth Day.

The 2010 edition marks the 40th anniversary. If Congress wants to score some environmental and economic “green” for the planet, it should declare its intention to let the states address climate change.

As the economy begins to rebound, businesses are again focused on commodities that may be in short supply when manufacturing shifts back into high gear.

Oil, refined fuels, steel, and electricity are among many things that may be harder to get or just harder to afford. But what about the one commodity that is needed by almost every part of the supply chain, including the workforce - - water?