Latest Articles

No place is safe from fracking, not even graveyards

No place blessed with an abundance of natural gas is safe from the possibility of fracking — not even cemeteries. In Texas, the president of the cemetery association has already been selling the gas underneath his graveyard, the Centre Daily Times reports: [John] Stephenson leased mineral rights under two of his cemeteries within the past […]

Finally, a pizza you can eat three times a day

Dreams do come true: Eating pizza for every meal could be perfectly healthy. Only catch: You’d have to be eating the “first nutritionally balanced pizza.” A pizza that has seaweed in the crust. Which is to say, not exactly the pizza you’d want to eat if you were going to eat pizza every day. Created […]

Ask Umbra: Who doesn’t celebrate the Fourth of July with rats and dandruff?

Readers launch a volley of questions at our green advice columnist. She responds with a veritable anthem of eco-smarts.

Local haterade: Authors say locavores do more harm than good

In their book, "The Locavore's Dilemma," Pierre Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu argue that a widespread embrace of local food could have "disastrous effects." We wanted to know more.

Heat records melting across the U.S.

The summer of the future is here today. Last week, 1,924 high-temperature records in the U.S. were broken or tied.

Overturning the ‘15% Rule’ Can Expand Distributed Generation

If you haven’t heard yet, there’s a “rule” that precludes distributed renewable energy projects from supplying more than 15% of the power to most “distribution circuits” (part of the low-voltage electric grid that brings power into homes and businesses).  With the rapidly falling cost of solar power, many places in the country are starting to […]

The Earth Summit debacle: Why our leaders don’t have game

Predictions that the Rio summit would fail became a self-fulfilling prophesy, says one young activist. But that failure can also be a catalyst for change.

Tar-sands oil spills should scare the crap out of you

InsideClimate News has published an in-depth series on a million-gallon-plus spill of oil-sands crude near Kalamazoo, Mich. Here are the good bits.

Three ways robots can help us deal with environmental catastrophes

Since natural disasters will only increase as the planet warms, engineers are focusing on how to use robots and other mechanical gadgets to aid in disaster response.

Congress passes terrible transportation bill, hits the road

Final transportation bill is a major letdown for advocates of transit, bikes, and other car alternatives.