Activists in Montana and Idaho are fighting back against these monstrosities.Iconic authors and outdoorsmen David James Duncan and Rick Bass have an important new book that they wrote in response to the notorious "haul" this month of gargantuan machines ("mega-loads") to Alberta, Canada, constructed in South Korea for use in the tar sands. Besides the tar sands being a debacle and climate justice issue, Bass and Duncan and activists are opposing this effort all along the route from a public safety and aesthetics angle too: The equipment threatens to buckle taxpayer-built roads and bridges, and if swept into the wild …

If the Sochi Olympics are green, then this logo is compelling to look at.Like a downhill skier that crashes right out of the gate, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to earn a gold medal for "the greenest Olympics." World Wildlife Fund Russia and Greenpeace Russia resigned from the Games' advisory committee last year and recently boycotted a visit of U.N. Environment Program officials who were to inspect the progress, saying, "We do not want to be part of a green PR for the Olympic projects." What are these NGOs …

In our New Agtivist interviews, we talk to people who are working to change this country's f'ed-up food system in inspiring ways.  Basement player: Chris Chaisson outside a house being retrofitted with a root cellar.Photo: Erik Hoffner Gourd yourself: Storage bins in a root cellarPhoto: Whole Farm ServicesImagine if trucks full of food stopped driving into your town or city every night. Or if the electricity grid went down for a while during the winter. What would you eat? Even those of us who grow lots of our own food might have to resort to factory-filled cans, victims of supermarket …

Terry Tempest Williams.Orion magazine recently asked acclaimed author Terry Tempest Williams to travel the length of the Gulf of Mexico and see with her own eyes the fallout from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. She came home with a nearly 15,000 word account of her oil odyssey, "The Gulf Between Us." Orion asked her to reflect on her Gulf experience as President Obama's commission on the disaster gets underway this week. Q. How has covering this story changed you? A. I have been fundamentally changed by the scale of what I saw at the Maconda Well blowout: Oil. Oil for …

Randall ArauzPhoto: PretomaDue to its location on the Pacific, Costa Rica has a huge number of sharks, and has been a leading exporter of shark fins for the fin soup trade. Fighting this practice is Randall Arauz, founder of the grassroots conservation group Pretoma which works to bring the country's reputation for marine conservation in line with its high pedigree for terrestrial conservation. Randall exposed the extent and barbarity of finning in Costa Rica which led to changes in its laws such that all sharks must be brought to land with fins attached and foreign vessels cannot land their catch …

The very happy members of Co-op Power.Photo: Erik Hoffner Co-op Power, a renewable energy cooperative, broke ground on its newest green business, Northeast Biodiesel, last week. This multi-million dollar project in Greenfield, Mass. is majority-owned by the co-op and its 375 members, so that the benefits and profits stay local. Note the smiles and thumbs in the air saying yeah, we own it! The plant will make roughly 3.5 million gallons of liquid fuel a year from recycled oil for use in buses, tractors, cars, and in home heating systems. Such biodiesel is way better for the planet and climate …

It's a punishing summer in Moscow with record highs and poor air quality. The last place you want to be is crammed into a jail cell, passing out repeatedly from the heat and lack of water, but that's exactly where the leader of the grassroots movement to prevent the destruction of the 2,600 acre Khimki Forest in Moscow found herself today. Evgenia Chirikova, 33, a mother of two and an engineer by trade, was rounded up with a number of her colleauges camped out on logging equipment late on Wednesday following a violent demonstration in town. Around 100 anarchists unassociated …

The Gulf spill threatens loggerhead turtles, who are nesting along the Florida coast right now.Photo courtesy Crazy Creatures via FlickrSea Turtle Conservancy Director David Godfrey took a minute to update me on what is being done to safeguard sea turtles swimming and nesting along Gulf shores this summer. He described transporting 70,000 loggerhead turtle eggs, turtles being burned alive, and what people can do to help. ----- Q. David, how true are the reports of sea turtles being burned alive in the Gulf? A. Yes, sea turtles rounded up by oil skimmers were burned alive by contractors working for BP. …

Rare breed: Patrick Martins moves old-school meat.(Les Meyers photo)After founding Slow Food USA in 2000, Patrick Martins went on to cofound Heritage Foods USA, a nationwide purveyor of meat from sustainably raised, heritage-breed animals, which he continues to head. And every Sunday, he records a radio show & podcast, The Main Course, from New York City. Knowing he's a man of strong opinions, Grist recently asked him by email for his take on some current trends in the sustainable food world. Q. When did your passion for good food begin? A. When I began eating three meals a day. As …

The Khimki Forest Park.Photo: oDRussia[JULY 21 UPDATE] Some time during the third week of July, workers for the French construction company Vinci began cutting trees along the route of the proposed road. They were discovered by activists and when they could not produce a cutting permit, a fight broke out and the workers chased off. Activists have now set up a tent camp in the new forest clearing and have kept the company's saws and bulldozers at bay. However, a manager of the cutting crew drove into the camp late at night and assaulted the leader of the activists, Evgenia …