Latest Articles

Brazilian inmates can reduce their sentence by providing human-powered electricity

Brazil is pioneering a new sort of jailhouse workout, in which inmates ride bikes instead of pumping iron. The bikes, unlike weightlifting or prison-yard basketball, help power a nearby town.

New York City shuts down home-brewed community park

The lot at Woodhull and Columbia Streets had sat vacant for 35 years. Around the corner, in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens, the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel pours into the Gowanus Expressway. The lot was a mess, a trash bin for the remnants of drug use and a home for rats. Lou Formisano decided to do something about […]

Fuel tanker explosion in Nigeria kills more than 90

This tragedy is only the latest in a string of fuel transport-related disasters.

These dreamlike landscapes are made out of food

When artist Eszter Burghardt went hiking in Iceland, the geology there reminded her of cake — so she decided to reproduce it using food. The picture above isn’t a tilt-shifted photo of mountains. It’s a picture of a cake Burghardt baked, colored blueish-brown, then brushed with matcha tea powder. (The clouds are wool.) The result […]

Vandana Shiva talks with Bill Moyers about the food system [VIDEO]

In this interview clip, scientist and philosopher Vandana Shiva recommends asking oneself daily: "Where am I complicit in the war against the earth?"

Researchers find link between drug-resistant bladder infections and poultry antibiotics

This is not the first example of a link between livestock antibiotics and drug-resistance in human infections, but it's a remarkable one.

Cohousing: The secret to sustainable urban living?

Experiments in cooperative living offer a great model for building sustainable urban communities. But can they work for everyone?

How easy is it to take public transit to work? Depends on where you live

An assessment of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the country finds that most jobs are accessible by transit – but the workers might not be.

U.S. Navy on its green initiatives: Damn the torpedoes!

Despite enormous pushback from Capitol Hill, the Navy is moving forward with major efforts to reduce energy consumption.

Climate Change is Fracking Society

Fracking isn’t only happening in the gas fields. Because of the never before seen and almost impossible to grok (or solve) problem of climate change, fracking is happening all over the environmental movement. Moms are fighting kids. Boards are fighting staff. Nonprofits are fighting each other. Left is fighting right and left. Republicans are getting […]