Latest Articles
-
Stop crying: Environmental tales don’t have to be ‘The Lorax’
Cross-posted from the Last Word on Nothing. I’ve spent a lot of time this past year thinking and writing about extinction, which means I’ve also spent a lot of time drinking thinking about the tragic narrative in environmental journalism. There’s a lot of genuine tragedy on the environmental beat, and it doesn’t take a partisan to see […]
-
Good cop, bad cop: How the police became a public enemy
Police subdue a protester at an Occupy Wall Street rally in New York City.Photo: Audrey Pilato Over the past couple of weeks, the fight between “the 99%” and the powerful Wall Street and Washington elite has devolved into a street battle between protesters and the police. Black-suited cops have pepper sprayed peaceful protesters, bloodied kids […]
-
Pesticides on trial [VIDEO]
On Dec. 3, the 27th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, anti-pesticide advocates are bringing the six largest pesticide companies to trial. Or rather, to something called The Permanent People’s Tribunal, an international body that “officially facilitates the trial, lacking any set of binding national laws.” According to a recent press release from the North American […]
-
The wrong way to recycle your fluorescent bulbs: Eating them
This video is bananas. But fluorescent bulbs are not bananas. So don't eat them, like these guys do, and also don't do any of the other things in this video. Criminey. If you do have mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs that need to be disposed of, the EPA has a guide to what you need to do […]
-
Live chat about Walmart’s greenwashing
Join a live chat with Stacy Mitchell about Walmart's sustainability efforts and how they've been coming up short, on Nov. 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET / noon PT.
-
A coal strip mine next to a national park?
When I think of Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park, I envision its beautiful rock spires (also known as “hoodoos”) reaching into the sky. I think of it as an amazing place to visit and hike, one of our country’s beautiful national parks famous for its stunning vistas, and for its unique plants and animals. It’s […]
-
‘Human centipede’ business model saves 39 million tons of CO2
One company's trash can be another's treasure — for instance, a server farm produces excess heat, making heat a waste product, but a greenhouse runs on heat and considers it a necessity. The U.K.'s National Industrial Symbiosis Program (NISP) helps match up companies that produce waste with companies that need it. Essentially, it's a Human […]
-
Infographic: The metals that make our technology are running out
This infographic by Camden Asay (click to embiggen) shows that we're fast running out of the stuff that powers our vehicles and our weaponry. But we've got even less time left with our gadgets. Yttrium and indium, two of the rare-earth elements that enable us to have TVs, computer monitors, and touch screens — oh, […]
-
Don’t drink the weed killer: Atrazine taints rural groundwater
Photo: T.P. MartinsIf you want to understand all that is wrong with our government’s environmental safety priorities, you need only look at the sad story of the weed killer atrazine. Despite the fact that study after study has demonstrated its dangers, it remains one of the most commonly used herbicides in the U.S. — to […]
-
Anonymous vigilantes clean up Bangalore
The Indian city of Bangalore is not the cleanest, apparently. So a group of young Bangaloreans is cleaning up the city, a block at a time. And they're doing it anonymously. After a year of "spot-fixing," the group — they call themselves the "Ugly Indians" — has managed to clear more than eight miles of […]
