If you're reading this on your phone from a line outside an electronics store, congratulations -- you're a real American! And you're probably way more excited about the 50th anniversary of big-box retail in this country than the rest of us are.

In 1962, when gas cost about 28 cents a gallon and the suburbs were growing faster than you can say "sports utility vehicle," Walmart, Target, and Kmart were all born.

NPR's Morning Edition talked to retail historian Marc Levinson about their rise to prominence and dominance.

One of the prerequisites for the big-box was the car. Everybody had to have a car because the big-box was sitting out in a parking lot somewhere. The big-box made shopping into a family experience. Mom and dad and the kids all piled into the car, they went out to this big store, and they could spend several hours there because there was, by the standards of the day, an enormous amount of merchandise.

Today's stores are about four times the size, but hey, so are our cars!

Since '62, the big boxes, especially Walmart, have grown like an infectious pox upon our nation. Even Friday's planned worker strikes at upwards of 1,000 Walmarts across the country may do nothing to slow the monster's growth. From The Daily Beast:

Always wanted to live in an adorable Tiny House except, like, without all that nature around you? Well today is your lucky day, urban dwellers! Following the lead of Vancouver and New York, San Francisco has approved legislation that will change the city building code to allow for "micro-unit apartments" that boast only 150 square feet of living space.

San Francisco is the most expensive rental market in the U.S., in part because it's tough to get anything built in the city. About 40 percent of San Francisco residents live solo, and those who work in tech tend to live in their offices anyway, so why not a closet for a condo?

City Supervisor Scott Wiener had pushed the legislation as an "affordable option" for S.F. residents who don't want to pay upwards of $2,000 for the average "large" city studio. (Wiener had said previously that he expected the units to rent for $1,200 to $1,700, so it seems "affordable" is in the eye of the beholder.) “Allowing the construction of these units is one tool to alleviate the pressure that is making vacancies scarce and driving rental prices out of the reach of many who wish to live here," Wiener said in a statement.

From Atlantic Cities:

As you're rushing in to grab that last bag of frozen cranberries and a couple wrinkly sweet potatoes, as your impatience balloons while waiting in that endless line for the cash register, and as you're about to rage at the cashier who is out of paper bags, step back, breathe, and remember the human toll of your food choices.

Last year, an undercover investigation led to five workers at a Butterball turkey factory farm being charged with criminal cruelty to animals. This year, the world's largest producer of turkey meat is back at it, and just in time for the holidays.

Mercy For Animals recorded the new undercover video in October, documenting:

workers kicking and stomping on birds, dragging them by their fragile wings and necks, and maliciously throwing turkeys onto the ground or on top of other birds; birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, and broken bones; and workers grabbing birds by their wings or necks and violently slamming them into tiny transport crates with no regard for their welfare.

Local law enforcement is currently investigating the MFA's legal complaint. Butterball's public relations manager told ABC News that the company has a "zero tolerance policy for animal abuse," and that, "Pending the completion of that investigation, Butterball will then make a determination on additional actions including immediate termination for those involved."

Yesterday was another intense day of direct environmental action and resulting pepper spray in East Texas.

More than 100 activists intent on shutting down construction of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline again gathered in the small East Texas town of Nacogdoches, again constructed treesits, again chained themselves to TransCanada's equipment, and again were brutalized and arrested for their efforts. (We reported on a previous day of action last month.)

"Everyone who took action today knew the risks inolved and for many of them it was an act of conscience. They understand that the risks of this toxic pipeline far outweigh the cost of inaction," the group wrote on its website. "Despite brutal police repression, we will not be intimidated and continue to resist TransCanada’s bullying of our friends and neighbors."

According to the blockaders, 12 were arrested, seven of whom are facing felony charges. Their report:

Wherefore art thou destructive drilling?

On Sunday, this rabble-rousing crew flash-mobbed on the Great Court of London's British Museum, which is currently hosting a Shakespeare exhibition sponsored by British Petroleum. It was the ninth and final performance for the approximately 200 members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company, who treated the museum to an adorably literary chant of, “Double, double, oil is trouble, tar sands burn as greenwash bubbles.”

From the group's site, BP or Not to BP:

SUNY Buffalo has shuttered its Shale Resources and Society Institute, aka a pro-fracking, on-campus think tank with big energy connections and a record of shilling for junk science.

The closure comes as a direct result of the center's misleading and error-filled May 15 report touting a warmer, fuzzier, safer fracking industry.

University of Buffalo President Satish Tripathi announced the closure.

Given our geographic situation as well as our extensive faculty expertise in issues related to energy, water, and the environment, the University at Buffalo is positioned to play a leading research role in these areas. Understanding and addressing these issues effectively therefore requires a program of sufficient scale to encompass the scope and complexities of this topic ... The university upholds academic freedom as a core principle of our institutional mission. With that being said, academic freedom carries with it inherent responsibilities. The Shale Resources and Society Institute's May 15, 2012, report, "Environmental Impacts during Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling: Causes, Impacts, and Remedies," led to allegations questioning whether historical financial interests influenced the authors' conclusions. The fundamental source of controversy revolves around clarity and substantiation of conclusions ... Because of these collective concerns, I have decided to close the Shale Resources and Society Institute.

In perhaps the most lackluster initial public offering since Facebook, California officials today released the results of last week's landmark cap-and-trade carbon auction, in which a ton of carbon sold for $10.09. That's one nickel and four pennies above the minimum the state had established.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

Mary Nichols, chair of the board, called the auction "a success" because it showed that California can reduce greenhouse gas emissions at an affordable cost. She said fears that the cost of carbon would "go out of sight" proved unjustified.

Climate change is coming! Quick, buy more stuff!!

That's the advice from the New York Times Magazine feature "How to Survive Societal Collapse in Suburbia." Wait, don't laugh yet -- we'll get to that.

First, meet Ron Douglas, a champion of survivalist consumer culture as a solution to our impending human-made doom. Douglas, his wife, and their six children live in the Denver exurbs with a "modified" vehicle that holds a lot of gas, which is apparently super "self-reliant." Douglas founded "one of the largest preparedness expos in the country," where companies try to sell people on disaster hoarding. But, like, sustainably!

Douglas talked about emergency preparedness, sustainable living and financial security — what he called the three pillars of self-reliance. He detailed the importance of solar panels, gardens, water storage and food stockpiles. People shouldn’t just have 72-hour emergency kits for when the power grid goes down; they should learn how to live on their own. It’s a message that Douglas is trying to move from the fringe to the mainstream.

By mainstream here they mean, to the middle and the left. For too long we've allowed political conservatives to dominate the survivalist market with their camoflauge and shotguns -- obviously if those things were organic, they could gain more market share!

It's not just America's poor who will pay the most for climate collapse.

The World Bank's new "Turn Down the Heat" report projects a 4 degree C (7.2 degree F) rise in global temperatures by 2100, a change that would have especially catastrophic consequences in the developing countries the World Bank is ostensibly attempting to aid. Yes, the climate class gap is global.

"We will never end poverty if we don't tackle climate change. It is one of the single biggest challenges to social justice today," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told the media Friday.

From the report [PDF]:

The projected impacts on water availability, ecosystems, agriculture, and human health could lead to large-scale displacement of populations and have adverse consequences for human security and economic and trade systems. The full scope of damages in a 4°C world has not been assessed to date.