Latest Articles

As Durban deadline draws near, big carbon emitters should cut a deal

It's not clear when we'll get another chance to put all the world's major carbon emitters on the road to a common effort.

Food Studies: Creating historical records for the future

Anna Zeide is embarking on a project to record the daily interactions of everyday people with the food they consume.

Top eight climate disasters during the Durban climate talks

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. During the two weeks of the international climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, millions of people have been affected by extreme weather disasters. Our poisoned climate is fueling more extreme and dangerous weather, as the super-heated atmosphere brings heavier rains, harder droughts, and fiercer storms. These eight climate disasters that took […]

Apple HQ could have the country’s biggest solar installation, and it still won’t be enough

The current plan for the new Apple headquarters calls for 500,000 or more square feet of solar panels, generating at least 5MW of power. That could make it the biggest corporate solar panel installation in the U.S. — but Apple operations take so much power that this will just be supplemental. The proposed building, which […]

Fine art, writ large: Billboards become gallery space

“Window,” a photograph by L.A. artist Susanna Battin, appeared on a San Bernardino County billboard in December.Photo: Susanna BattinIf you drove down I-15 in San Bernardino County, Calif., outside of Corona, last Friday, you may have noticed a giant, digital billboard exclaiming, “WE BUY USED GUNS.” But if you’d looked at the same sign from […]

Sea change: Asian Americans and seafood in the gulf [Part 1]

Editor’s note: This is the first half of a feature story from Hyphen Magazine’s Survival Issue. Some say that Asian America began in Louisiana. In the late 1700s, Filipino sailors escaped Spanish galleons and started shrimping the hot, humid Gulf Coast, where the weather reminded them of Southeast Asia and the water teemed with oysters, […]

Tokelau, population 1,500, goes renewables-only

At the U.N. climate talks in Durban, the South Pacific micro-state of Tokelau announced that it would be switching entirely to renewable energy. Tokelau has 1,500 people and three cars, but, uh, it's the thought that counts? Tokelau, which has 1,000 fewer people than my high school, currently runs diesel generators that eat up imported […]

Bonneville Power unfairly favored hydro over wind, rules FERC

Photo: Vlasta JuricekThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has ruled that the Bonneville Power Association (BPA) unfairly discriminated against wind turbine owners when it curtailed the production of power from wind assets last spring in response to high hydro production. Wind owners are understandably happy, having argued that BPA was essentially favoring hydro over wind. […]

It’s panda-countin’ time!

Get out your panda-counting equipment, because it's panda census time! China's government is organizing the first panda census in a decade, sending out teams of wildlife biologists over hill and under dale in search of the elusive critters. And it's not as fun as it sounds. Pandas are really rare in the wild — the […]

Fun with energy efficiency! (No, really. I promise.)

The problem with trying to make your home more energy-efficient is that energy efficiency is deadly boring. Start talking about heating systems and insulation and smart windows and even the niftiest thermostat ever, and eyes start to glaze over. The Energy Bills, though, are funny. Ish. At least, they're funnier than any other conceivable idea […]