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Occupy Wall Street can shake up a city — but can it create lasting change?

Photo: Lauren DeCicca via weeklydig“Mike check! “MIKE CHECK!” “Mike check!” “MIKE CHECK!” This call-and-response has become a familiar refrain for those who have attended Occupy Wall Street protests or followed the movement from afar. When police banned sound systems in many encampments, protesters responded by creating human amplifiers: Anyone who has something to say to […]

Public school’s rooftop greenhouse teaches kids about food

At New York's P.S. 333, the Manhattan School for Children, science class takes place on the roof. A rooftop greenhouse, built in partnership with Science Barge creators New York Sun Works, houses a year-round farm where kids can learn about plant life cycles, green technology, and sustainable farming practices. This farm is seriously rad, in […]

NYT Mag: Country folk understand fracking better than city folk

The New York Times has a long article in this weekend's magazine about hydraulic fracturing in southwestern Pennsylvania. It tries to capture the culture of the place and to show the tensions for people who have an economic interest in drilling but are at risk of suffering health impacts. But it also manages to glance […]

Discovery says they’ll be airing climate change show after all, sort of

We were pretty irritated at the news that Discovery Channel, which bought the BBC's spectacular Frozen Planet documentary for airing in the U.S., would not be showing the series' final climate change episode. Turns out we should have instead been irritated that they're dissing Sir David "So Cool Penguins Nest In Me" Attenborough. Discovery says […]

America’s 20 dirtiest cities

California may have the nation's first cap-and-trade program, but it also has seven of the 10 most polluted cities, according to Forbes. Here are the rest of the 20 dirtiest metropolitan areas: 20. Cleveland, Ohio 19. Indianapolis, Ind. 18. Houston, Texas 17. Salt Lake City, Utah 16. Washington, D.C. 15. Knoxville, Tenn. 14. New York, […]

Critical List: IPCC says humans causing bad weather; physics causes cyclists to breeze by stop signs

The IPCC is officially saying that human-generated emissions are screwing up the weather. Fukushima rice that was supposed to be safe has unacceptably high levels of radiation. Energy Secretary Steven Chu survived five hours of questioning from Congress about Solyndra. Can we let it go now? The Green Car of the Year is the Honda […]

Reasons for thanks giving

Amazing, just amazing. We win one a week ago on the tar-sands pipeline — not a final victory but a big one — and then yesterday, the young (and older) people of Occupy Wall Street pull off a tremendously powerful day-long series of actions in response to the Bloomberg/police, middle-of-the-night Tuesday eviction at Liberty Park. […]

By the numbers: The myth of ‘job-killing’ regulations

This post originally appeared at Facing South. 3 — Number of weeks straight last month that Republicans used their weekly radio address to attack government regulations for killing jobs 0.3 — Percent of people who lost their jobs in 2010 because of government regulation 25 — Percent who lost their jobs because of a drop […]

Guerrilla bike lanes and asphalt devils: Remaking the streets with protest art

Photo: c/o Peter GibsonWhen Peter Gibson first set out with spray paint and stencils into the streets of Montreal, he had protest on his mind, not art. He had little sense that his small act of sabotage would usher him into the boundary-pushing realm of street art — or land him in the back of […]

How does energy efficiency create jobs?

This post was written by Casey Bell, senior economic analyst at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and a contributing author at the ACEEE blog. With unemployment hovering at a stubborn 9 percent, it is no wonder that job creation has become a hot topic. It is nearly impossible to read the news without […]