Latest Articles

Mixed blessing: U.S. power demand will stay flat for a while

We won't use the amount of electricity we thought we'd be using in 2019 until 2030, according to a new forecast.

Out of room on the ground? Go build a house on top of a mall

No matter how much evidence we trot out about how dense living is superior, someone’s always going to demur because they want a big house with a big yard. And you can only get those in the suburbs, right? Well, not if you build them on top of other buildings, like this neighborhood on top […]

10-year-old’s petition convinces Jamba Juice to stop using styrofoam

Fifth-grader Mia Hansen collected over 130,000 signatures, and the smoothie giant agreed to phase out styrofoam by 2013.

We’ve already used a year’s worth of resources in 2012

Nice job sticking to your budget, humans.

Paradise lost in Palau: Island nation fights back against climate change

Threatened by encroaching seas, the tiny island nation of Palau is taking legal action with the U.N. to hold the industrialized world accountable for damage caused by climate change.

Should Walmart Write America’s Energy Plan?

Recent campaign stops by Mitt Romney and President Obama could not provide a more stark contrast of energy policies. Romney promises coal miners that he’s in favor of energy from “below the ground”, albeit preferring domestic sources of all fossil fuels. The President has repeatedly focused on “above the ground” solutions, such as wind and […]

Man, the Mississippi River looks like HELL right now

You know how sometimes you overdo it at a party, but you don’t think it’s a big deal, until someone uploads pictures and you’re like “holy CRAP I looked like a hobo all night”? That’s probably how the Mississippi River feels right now. Sure, we all knew there was a drought and that the river […]

California meat company shut down for abusing cows

Fair warning: There are no graphic images or videos, but even the language here is disconcerting.

What would happen if everyone on Earth jumped at the same time?

Michael Stevens of internet thingy VSauce investigates the foremost question in the minds of people who care about the Earth: How worried do we need to be that everyone on the planet is going to travel to Los Angeles and jump simultaneously? Would that cause an earthquake? Would it knock Earth off its axis? And […]

Scoop: A preview of Romney’s energy plan

We managed to get our hands on Romney's energy policy a day before he will announce it.