Architect Barbie is building a new Dream House, and she needs help! Members of the American Institute of Architects can submit plans that fit Barbie's criteria, which include a house that "should reflect the best sustainable design principles." But Barbie's idea of "sustainable design" needs a little tweaking. Girlfriend wants a huge closet for her "unlimited fashions and accessories" and a garage that accommodates at least three cars. And basically every room, she says, needs to be "large" or "spacious." Barbie should know that sustainable design or green materials can't make up for the impact building a new, gigantic house …

Your award-winning chili recipe calls for grass-fed beef, organic tomatoes, and locally grown carrots. But what about the cumin? The salt? The chili powder? We greens have been well trained by now to look for fair trade everything, but sustainable spices have received less attention than other make-your-life-better products like chocolate and coffee. But many spices are grown in monocultures that degrade land and encourage loss of biodiversity. Spice farmers are rarely paid a fair price for their products. And the products that make it onto grocery store shelves depend on artificial dyes and flavoring to trick even discerning palates. …

Desertec is a massive project to to build solar thermal plants in the deserts of North Africa -- you know, the same North Africa that had all the revolutions just now. But proponents are saying there’s no reason to put the project on hold just because of political unrest. In fact, they say, the economic benefits afforded by the Desertec plant might help the region in its shift towards democracy. The plants would take advantage of the Sahara’s sunshine -- it gets so much that covering only 1 percent of its area in solar thermal plants could power the entire …

Republican representative Dana Rohrabacher has a novel solution for reducing greenhouse gases: Destroy the rainforest! While we’re at it, we should probably get rid of the ozone layer and those pesky whales, as well. Rohrabacher argues that since 80 percent of carbon emissions come from decaying plant matter, we should clear-cut rainforests in order to reduce carbon. This is basically like saying that because your body turns food into blood sugar, the best cure for diabetes is to keep on drinking soda but drain all your blood. The staggering stupidity of this statement is causing respectable academics to make Sesame …

You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but Mark Zuckerberg is gunning to be the new Ted Nugent. The Facebook founder/Übernerd/kabillionaire is now only eating meat he slaughters himself. At least, that’s what he claims his status update reading “I just killed a pig and a goat” means, and issues or no, he doesn't really seem like the kind of guy who just goes around brutalizing livestock. Zuckerberg has given himself a “personal challenge” this year to eat no meat he didn’t kill. Last year’s personal challenge was to learn Chinese, and the previous year’s was to wear a …

The Bush administration issued more than 40,000 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands, but approved zero solar projects (even though they received 300 applications). In contrast, in 2010 alone the Bureau of Land Management approved 9 solar projects representing 3,682 megawatts of electric power, reports Climate Central. Why the difference? According to Chase Huntley of the Wilderness Society, the Obama administration is committed to permitting new renewable projects: "This administration is taking action, not just tap dancing on process." Giant government bureaucracies are hard to change, though, so it's going to take a lot of time and …

Cars idling in traffic lead to more than 2,200 premature deaths each year, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health. But lower vehicle emissions and cleaner fuels have been driving down that number for past decade, and the number of deaths will continue to decrease until about 2025, the study says. Here's a graph from the study showing projected premature deaths connected to congested traffic from 2000-2030: What happens in 2025? Presumably, increased emissions from congestion begin to overtake gains from greener fuel and car design. The study was funded by a coalition of transportation …

New Jersey governor Chris Christie has jumped ship from a regional greenhouse gas program, because "it's a failure." The owners of the Fukushima nuclear plant provided regulators with only a one-page memo on its tsunami and earthquake preparedness. One page. A decade ago. In Japan, the country that invented the word “tsunami.” Green tech companies need for everyone to start doing a better job of recycling those rare earth materials that make electronics run. Trust us, you’re never going to refurb that old Dell laptop that doesn't have wireless capabilities. Please just drop it off somewhere they can make use …

In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, it seems nobody can stay neutral on nuclear power, not even Switzerland. The country has abandoned plans for new nuclear reactors, and while the five existing reactors will be allowed to keep operating, they won't be replaced. Nuclear in Switzerland will be entirely phased out by 2034, and officials say the 20-plus year interim will allow them time to develop energy alternatives to take over the significant power Switzerland now gets from nuclear -- 40 percent of the country's total power capacity. Switzerland joins Germany in turning its back on nuclear, though neighbor France is …

At least in Sweden, people who have a long-distance commute are 40 percent more likely to separate or divorce. That’s the finding of Erika Sandow, a Swedish social geographer who studied more than two million partnered commuters for her dissertation work. Sandow acknowledges that there are career benefits to long commutes -- people who are willing to spend 45 minutes or more getting to their jobs get access to a wider range of employment opportunities, and often make more money. But those benefits don’t necessarily hold true for their partners, who may take worse jobs closer to home in order …