Latest Articles

Durban dispatch: U.S. takes ‘recourse to nonsense’

It’s just a guidepost, guys. No need to panic.Photo: US Mission GenevaCross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. China limits commitments This week, China’s top climate envoy said that the nation would be open to signing a formal treaty limiting emissions after 2020 — but laid down conditions for doing so that are unlikely ever to be met. […]

Bear bile farming is just as bad as it sounds

Animal welfare foundation Animals Asia has just rescued 14 moon bears, which had been farmed and abused for a substance produced in their gall bladders. Gah. People are willing to perpetrate some real atrocities on animals in order to get valuable commodities — rhino horns, elephant ivory, tiger parts. But man, once you start doing […]

New York’s bike commuters have doubled in four years

Despite the best efforts of bike lane opponents and overprivileged New Yorker columnists, bike commuters in the Big Apple have increased by 102 percent since 2007, according to new figures from the New York Department of Transportation. Bicycle commuter numbers have almost quadrupled since 2001. Just imagine what it will look like when their bikeshare […]

Watch a time-lapse image of 2011’s crazy weather

Sure, we all know 2011's weather was bananapants, but just how banana WERE those pants? The Natural Resources Defense Council has put together an interactive map showing all the record weather events from the last year. The map shows record snowfalls, record rainfalls, record high and low temperatures, and the affected range from disastrous events […]

A New Obsession

“This obsession with a legally binding treaty [to tackle climate change] is an obstacle for countries achieving targets they have committed to,” declared Paul Bledsoe, a climate change advisor to President Clinton. “What we need is national will to reach stated goals.” Given that the only international agreement so far, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in […]

The young and the restless: Kids sue government over climate change

As the U.S. delegation drags its feet at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa, this week, a pack of kids back home is trying to force the old folks into action, the American way: They’re suing the bastards. In May, a group of young people, led by 17-year-old Alec Loorz (founder of Kids vs. […]

Tighter efficiency standards may lead to bigger, more ironic vehicles

The idea behind fuel efficiency standards, nominally, is to end up with more efficient cars. But according to a new study from the University of Michigan, what they actually do is create a financial incentive for bigger cars — because bigger cars don't have to be as efficient.  Fuel economy goals are stated as an average […]

Funniest thing in months: Conan O’Brien’s parody of Ron Paul’s campaign video

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011875&w=425&h=350&fv=] Ron Paul made a campaign video that borders on self-parody, and if you haven’t seen it, do yourself the favor of watching it immediately. Keep in mind when you do that the budget cuts Paul is touting will come in part from eliminating the EPA (in addition to basically every other damn thing). […]

Polar bears may be driven to cannibalism by climate change

If you watch nature shows, you know that male bears see cubs as tasty little McNuggets with fur, so it's not like one bear eating another is a big deal. Except that in the Arctic, polar bears are increasingly deprived of the sea ice they rely on to access seals and other tasty mammalian treats. […]

Coming soon: Street View-style maps of the country’s endangered rivers

Internet time-wasters, start your engines. A nonprofit called Below the Surface is gearing up to map 27 of the country's most endangered rivers using the same technology that gave the world Google Street View. That means 360-degree shots of beautiful, polluted, shrinking, over-tapped waterways for the world to click on (and, hopefully, get fired up […]