Latest Articles

Thinking inside the big box: Seven brilliant uses for abandoned chain stores [SLIDESHOW]

Some look at the abandoned big box stores littering the American landscape and see senseless blight -- and others see an opportunity to create something new. Here are some examples of the latter.

Joel Kotkin: The man urbanists love to hate

The prominent “suburban apologist” talks about how much he likes cities and how he loves to ride his bike -- and generally goes all Jane Jacobs on us. Wait, wha?

Chris Hayes on the absurdity of oil subsidies

Guest hosting for Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes unspools a nice, long segment on the latest failed attempt to remove oil company subsidies. It’s worth watching the whole thing:

More on ramping down baseload power and ramping up storage

Baseload is going the way of VHS. We must shed our aversion to innovation so we can start actually planning for the energy system we want.

George Bush’s hometown is running out of water, thanks to climate change

The president whose State Department thanked Exxon executives for their "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy is watching the town in which he grew up squirm in the grip of Texas' epic, climate change-enhanced drought.

Black people get asthma so everybody else can get cheap power

African Americans are more likely than whites to live near coal-fired power plants -- and, not coincidentally, they have a 35 percent higher rate of asthma.

Starbucks strawberry Frappuccino dyed with crushed insects

Here's a Starbucks order to try out: a Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino with soy milk and a shot of crushed parasitic insects.

How successful cities are like marijuana

In comparison to other crops, the relatively high value of pot is a good metaphor for a city's decision to invest in its downtown versus sprawl, says Joe Minicozzi, the new projects director at Public Interest Projects.

Maple syrup-pocalypse arrives 20 years early

Scientists have been saying that maple syrup production could be devastated in 20 to 30 years, but this season's warm temperatures are so extreme that we're getting a taste of that state of the climate now.

Critical List: Pesticides are killing bees; North Sea gas leak only sort of dangerous

A look at the news of the day.