Uncategorized

Sorry, Eminem: Mass transit creates jobs, not Detroit

“Did you see what Mother Jones said about this ad? I’m about to cry.”Chrysler’s Super Bowl spot may feature Eminem looking all tough, but here’s one way he’s helping the terrorists win: Compared to mass transit, cars suck at creating jobs. A new report analyzing stimulus spending shows that spending on public transportation and road […]

‘Mom, can we get the kind of car that we keep at our house?’

But everybody else does it!Photo: Mario KlingemannOn a recent, rather brisk, walk to church, my 3-year-old daughter, Rosa, asked, “Mom, can we get the kind of car that we keep at our house?” As opposed, that is, to the kind we use for a few hours and then return. I wasn’t especially surprised by the […]

H&M wants the clothes you throw out to be more sustainable

It’s recycling! I recycled David Byrne’s jacket and Shakespeare’s pants.Is disposable-clothes giant H&M still trying to save face from the time it got caught with its pants down, shredded, and thrown in a dumpster in Herald Square? The clothing company, long a purveyor of one-season clothing for teenyboppers and underpaid professionals, is making a move […]

Why sustainable design sucks

Recycling gone awry.Photo: Rosenfeld MediaEverything you think you know about sustainable design is wrong. That’s the message of one of the most compelling and potentially disruptive essays on the subject since Buckminster Fuller unleashed his special brand of crazy on a world that was just waking up to design as a weapon in the war […]

Dando la cara a la comida [en Español]

Reproducido con permiso – (C) Rick Nahmias/Todos los derechos reservados (Check out the slideshow in English here.) Fotografía: (C) Rick Nahmias/themigrantproject.com Cada día, a más tardar a las 2:00 a.m., estas mujeres viajan desde Mexicali al puerto de entrada a Calexico. Esperan para abordar los autobuses que las transportarán casi 75 millas al norte para […]

Hexavalent chromium pollution linked to coal ash disposal

The landmark $333 million court settlement that propelled legal researcher Erin Brockovich to environmental stardom involved the contamination of a California town’s groundwater with hexavalent chromium, a toxic compound known to cause cancer. Now the same dangerous heavy metal, usually associated with steel manufacturing and metal plating, has been discovered seeping from coal ash disposal […]

Earthbags: Why hobbit-holes are part of green building’s future

Earthbags, a green building material that's cheaper and greener than cement, are getting attention from the DIY crowd.

Earthbags: Why hobbit-holes are part of green building’s future

Earthbags, a green building material that's cheaper and greener than cement, are getting attention from the DIY crowd.

The Egyptian people tend to the streets that are now their own [VIDEO]

Among the throngs of protesters in the streets of Cairo, some work to pick up trash. Because this is their place now, not the government's.

Octopi are awesome at recycling

Or is it octopuses? Or octopodes? Octothorpes? Anyway, please take note: This is the cutest recycling ever. Also, a great example of tiny housing. But hey, the guy goes through two color changes in the course of the video, it’s no surprise he knows how to be green.