We don't need any energy technology breakthrough to solve the climate-change problem. At least, that's the Tthesis posited by The Economist in a debate sponsored by everyone's favorite multinational oil company, British Petroleum Beyond Petroleum. The ayes are having it so far. Joseph Romm from the Center for American Progress takes the pro, Peter Meisen of the Global Energy Network Institute takes the con, and Earth2Tech's Katie Fehrenbacher argues the corollary for conservation through increased efficiency.

For Earth2Tech, the new green blog from GigaOm, founder Om Malik has hired Adena DeMonte away from the Red Herring, the struggling publication we've put on a deathwatch. That's got to be the last straw for Herring editor Joel Dreyfuss (pictured, right). Rumor has it that Dreyfuss at one point told Malik to stop poaching the Herring's best writers. Malik, of course, is a former Herring writer, but the publication in its current form and under current management bears no relationship, aside from the name, to the storied tech magazine Malik worked for earlier in this decade. Why Dreyfuss feels Malik's not entitled to fish in his pond is a mystery to me — unless it's just a sign of his general frustration with trying to bail out a sinking ship.

Om Malik, the moody tech blogger behind GigaOm, is better known for his blue periods. But now he's entering a green phase with his new environmental blog, Earth2Tech. His heart's hardly in it, however. In sending around a note announcing the site, all he could manage was this: "Apparently like everyone else, we are going green!" For those who know Malik, that's his slightly chagrined way of admitting he's following a trend, not setting one. While it may not attract much excitement from its creator, it's sure to pull in those green ad dollars. (Side note: GigaOm contributor and Earth2Tech lead writer Katie Fehrenbacher is the sister of Jill Fehrenbacher, who in turn is Engadget founder Peter Rojas's girlfriend.)