Latest Articles

Critical List: China’s emissions outstrip America’s; Bill Gates hearts geoengineering

By 2015, China will emit 50 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than the United States does. The Texas drought has forced some towns to ship in their water by truck. Bill Gates is underwriting geoengineering lobbying efforts.

Look, Dad! No hands! The travails of teaching kids to bike in the city

What’s a bike-loving helicopter parent to do with kids in the urban jungle? Here are six things that will help keep your free-wheeling young’uns out of harm’s way.

Ask Umbra: Where do chemical-sucking plants go to die?

Some plants remove nasty contaminants from the soil. What happens to those leafy overachievers when their time is up? Umbra explores.

Plant a tree, pay a salary, save the climate — all at once

Tim Whitley's Carbon Offsets to Alleviate Poverty bird-dogs big problems by connecting their solutions.

Why climate change will make you love big government

Natural disasters like the ones we saw so many of in 2011 -- and will see more of with a changing climate -- remind us just how important it is to have a functional government.

Just how big are subsidies to fossil-fuel companies? Help us find out

The Institute for Policy Integrity is using crowdsourcing to find out exactly how much companies like Shell and ExxonMobil receive in subsidies and tax breaks.

Making moonshine and molasses [VIDEO]

The Perennial Plate gang stops in at a North Carolina farm to learn about a rare variety of heirloom corn and sample some moonshine.

This will be the greenest Super Bowl ever

I know football fans feel pretty strongly about doing things exactly the same way every time, lest their switch in underwear or beer brand or whatever be the butterfly’s wing that leads to their favorite team tanking. So I have some bad news for you guys: there will be some changes this year. But take […]

Roseanne Barr wants to be the Green Party nominee for president

Roseanne Barr already told Jay Leno she planned to run for president, but back then she was going to start her own party. Now, though, she’s seriously seeking Green Party nomination for the 2012 presidential run. The (presumably recycled) paperwork is in, and given that I have zero idea who the heck else is running, […]

Antarctica’s about to lose a New York City-sized chunk

Normally when icebergs split off from glaciers, it’s called “calving,” but I think it would be fair to say that Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier is about to have a cow. Pine Island Glacier, which is the continent’s fastest-melting glacier and unusually well-situated to contribute to sea level rise, is getting set to shed a chunk […]