Latest Articles

Peabody Coal signs sweetheart deal with government to expand existing mine

Peabody is paying the feds 25 cents per ton for coal that's likely to sell for $35 per ton. Hope they can eke out a profit!

Vote for Mulvar, the true green candidate (also comes in 200 colors)

Mulvar may not be the highest-profile candidate, but he has the best media strategy we’ve seen (now involving bird chirp site!), and quite possibly the most convincing green platform.

Heroic weatherman talks climate in a red state — and viewers thank him for it

When Jim Gandy, a South Carolina weathercaster, started putting his coverage in the context of climate change, the public response was much more positive than he expected.

BP, still working out the kinks in this ‘fuel distribution’ thing, recalls gasoline

Excessive residue in gasoline from a refinery in Indiana could screw with the cars of 7,000 unlucky consumers.

Super-freaky train station design looks like a spider laying eggs

The proposed structure for a Vienna train station looks like a mutant pregnant insect depositing its egg sacs.

Romney’s energy plan dissected: Putting government to work for Big Oil

There is nothing here that would cause a sleepless night -- even a sleepless second -- for ExxonMobil executives.

Not satisfied with destroying crops, the drought is now ruining quaint local traditions

Prepare yourself for the sort of sad, super-local news that makes the fact that the world is ending such a bummer. A flower show in Butte County, S.D., sucked this year because there wasn’t enough water to grow any really good flowers. We all know climate change is ruining the Earth in general, but ruining […]

Crude oil made out of pig poo is totally going to save our bacon

One pig produces about eight pounds of manure a day. (Try not to think how many Reader’s Digests it might go through if it eliminated sitting on a toilet — you’ll just gross yourself out.) Anyway, that’s a lot of waste. But now, thanks to scientists at the University of Illinois, it might represent a […]

Is your cup compostable — or biodegradable? And why does it matter again?

As more cities adopt municipal composting programs, the range of to-go ware made from bioplastics is expanding. Here's what you need to know about what's real, what's greenwashing, and why it matters.

Save the median strip! Or, how to annoy E.O. Wilson

Emma Marris, author of "Rambunctious Garden," challenged noted conservationist E.O. Wilson by arguing that we should learn to value all types of nature -- human-altered places as well as pristine landscapes.