You remember Survivaballs, don't you? They're the ultimate solution to a planet gone crazy with excess thermal energy, marketed directly to the executives most responsible for all this climate change. Well, now someone has turned oil rig escape pods into the ultimate climate-immune hotel. If you favor adaptation over mitigation, this is the love nest for you! Harness up a few extras for your offspring and you might even stick around long enough to repopulate the planet. Each survivapod is only 14 feet in diameter and sports little in the way of amenities beyond a chemical toilet. But what do you …

Texas, which is rapidly turning into just the sort of desert we were promised it would soon be, has already seen a year of record-breaking drought and out-of-control wildfires. Now the flames are threatening residential areas, even the state capital itself. Kate Galbraith, reporter for the Texas Tribune, just noted on Twitter: There is an intense smell of smoke outside our building in downtown Austin. Residents of Austin and surrounding areas are packing hurricane-style "go bags" in case they have to flee in a hurry, abandoning homes no one ever thought would be threatened by anything worse than a hail …

Here's a cautionary tale for hybrid owners: A Prius-owning family in California lost its car to a joy-riding bear.  After wedging itself inside the car, the bear became stuck. Frustrated, hungry and mad, it kicked, scratched, bit and tore at the interior of the hybrid, trying to force a way out as easily as it found its way in. In its behind-the-wheel rampage, the bear ripped open the seats, bit a chunk out of the steering wheel and damaged the Prius' gear box, shifting the car into neutral. From the safety of the cabin, the awakened family watched helplessly as …

Marsha Coleman-Adebayo's new book, No Fear: The Whistleblower's Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA, tells about the ordeal she went through while working at the EPA in the 1990s. She told NPR: For me, working at the EPA was a very harrowing experience. … I was surprised that the in environment of the EPA, instead of being rewarded for being proficient in what you do, loyalty was a much greater value. When I began questioning U.S. policy, I was considered disloyal. And at that point, at the minds of many people at the EPA, I had become their …

Yale University and George Mason University took a deep dive into the relationships between political identity and views on climate change. In other words, they tried to figure out what the hell is going on in the minds of Tea Partiers. Godspeed, brave souls. Here's what sets Tea Partiers off from the rest of us: They do not believe global warming is happening. Duh. Only 34 percent of Tea Partiers believe in global warming, vs. 53 percent of Republicans. 53 percent of Tea Partiers aren't even wavering: they know global warming's not happening. Those snowstorms last winter made them wonder …

Need a job? Alberta's tar-sands industry wants YOU. But if you want to stay in this country, never fear, the oil and gas industry wants to create jobs here. On the one hand: Yay jobs! On the other hand: Boo oil and gas industry! A European court put the kibosh on honey that contains even a tiny bit of pollen from GMO crops. If we know Monsanto, they’re now working on a genetically modified bee that neutralizes evidence of genetic modification from the genetically modified pollen it collects. London ranks "below average" on air pollution. (That means its air quality …

This (left) is your sky. And this (right) is your sky on ONE MAJOR LIGHT SOURCE. So it's no surprise that suburban starscapes have been totally desaturated by the lights on buildings, roads, and parking lots. Less than half the U.S. -- and almost none of Europe -- has dark enough night skies to see the Milky Way. It's an easy fix, though, at least in theory. Replacing street lights with full cutoff lights, below, saves money and reduces glare while also giving us back the stars.  

There are a few factors that make it tricky for kids to bike or walk alone: Bad drivers who face insufficient consequences, lack of sidewalks and protected bike lanes, too few crosswalks. We COULD improve biking and walking infrastructure, and have cops actually crack down on illegal driving maneuvers. But that's hard! Instead, let's just arrest everybody who doesn't drive their kids to school. That appears to be the approach in Elizabethton, Tenn., where Teresa Tryon has been threatened with arrest if she keeps letting her daughter bike to school on her own. Tryon lives only a mile from her 5th-grader's …

Republicans have been whining about the Obama administration’s liberty-squashing decision to phase out inefficient incandescent bulbs in favor of CFLs, LEDs, and (surprise!) more efficient incandescent bulbs. But (double surprise!) the idea of requiring efficient lightbulbs sprang fully formed from the head of a Republican, Michigan Rep. Fred Upton. Not only did Republicans come up with the idea, but back in 2007, President Bush signed into law a bill mandating the new standards. But none of that matters, because Michele Bachamann doesn't like saving money on her electric bill. So blame the Democrats!

  The Las Vegas strip likes to pretend it’s flush in all manner of luxuries, including water -- even though Lake Mead, which provides the city with water, could disappear within the next decade. Running a giant fountain or indoor canal in the middle of the desert is the hydrological equivalent of flashing fat stacks of cash. But while casinos aren't exactly down with water conservation (that’s for poor people!), the Las Vegas government is. The city nixed grassy lawns, empowered water waste enforcers, and made water really, really expensive for anyone who uses more than they need for basic …