Can energy independence help solve the economic crisis?

Five million green jobs. One million hybrid cars on the road. Some $150 billion in clean-energy investment. Eighty percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions.

These are just some of the promises made by President-elect Barack Obama during the long presidential campaign. He is now focused sharply on the nation’s economic woes, saying that solving the grave economic crisis is his top priority. But Obama made many other promises in the name of “change” — expanding health-care coverage, improving education, devising an exit strategy for Iraq, shutting down Guantanamo Bay. Everyone wants to know which of these goals Obama will focus on when he takes office Jan. 20.

Report: Media props up offshore drilling myth

I was almost relieved to see this report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. I have been puzzling over why the public seems so sure that offshore drilling will lower gas prices.

Troubled bee colonies go it alone

An original story from our sister site The Washington Independent.

Tom Theobald’s voice quavers with urgency when he talks about honey bees. The small-time commercial beekeeper sounds distressed, even fearful, when he makes predictions about…