Latest Articles

Think Walmart uses 100% clean energy? Try 2%

Walmart is moving like a tortoise toward its clean-energy goal.Context is critical to understanding Walmart’s sustainability initiatives and their impact on the retailer’s overall environmental footprint. But context has been sorely absent in the news media’s coverage of Walmart’s green efforts. Even within the environmental community, conversations about Walmart tend to miss the big picture. […]

Announcement of alternate tar-sands pipeline sends Midwest oil prices surging

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. After the spiking of the Keystone XL pipeline by the Obama administration, the tar-sands industry moved quickly to open an alternate route from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. With the announcement of the pipeline deal, U.S. oil prices spiked, on the expectation that Canadian tar-sands crude would no longer be locked […]

How did pizza become a vegetable? Blame lobbyists

By now, most of us have seen the headlines. They’ve ranged from “Is Pizza Sauce a Vegetable? Congress says Yes” to the more childish, “Congress to USDA: Pizza is So a Vegetable, Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah.” News outlets have had a field day over a recent proposal from Congress that suggests pizza sauce […]

Poor little Big Coal says EPA smog standards too expensive

Cross-posted from the Center for American Progress. This post was coauthored by Matthew Kasper, an energy intern at the Center for American Progress. By Dec. 16, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will promulgate its final rule requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury, arsenic, acid gases, and other toxic chemicals. The EPA […]

A case study in how media bias works against clean-air rules

Political reporter John Broder had a long piece in The New York Times yesterday chronicling Obama’s decision to delay a tighter national smog standard. I have no desire to relitigate that fight, but I do want to pluck out one particular bit of Broder’s piece to illustrate a point. In a recent piece kvetching about […]

Your canned Thanksgiving staples are full of BPA

I get the sense that everyone who can cook (i.e. pretty much everyone who isn't me) is going the foodie route with Thanksgiving these days, all free-range individual Cornish hens and Brussels sprout slaw. But if you like to go the easy/traditional/pull-stuff-together-at-the-last-minute route, use caution when reaching for the canned pumpkin or beans. The Breast […]

From Solyndra circus to clean energy reform

Steven Chu appears before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.Cross-posted from the Breakthrough Institute. Step right up to see the latest chapter in the ongoing political circus surrounding the bankruptcy of solar manufacturer and federal loan guarantee recipient Solyndra. Today’s main attraction: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu’s long-awaited appearance before the eager Republican members […]

Finally, celebrities come up with some real global warming solutions

We need fresh, innovative, attention-grabbing new ideas for combating global warming, and the Clinton Foundation Celebrity Division is on the case. That Kristen Wiig is really on to something — I'm gonna go hold my breath right now. 

Troubling Health Trends Holding Back Progress on Life Expectancy

By Brigid Fitzgerald Reading People born today will live for 68 years on average, 20 years longer than those born in 1950. By the mid-twentieth century, industrial countries had already made major strides in extending lifespans with improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and public health. After World War II, rapid gains in life expectancy in developing […]

Secret Antarctic mountains will help us understand Earth’s climate history

Deep underneath the Antarctic ice sheet are the Gamburtsev mountains, a mountain range the size of the Alps. Scientists are finally piecing together the story of their creation, destruction, and re-creation, and it could help with modeling future climate conditions. The original Gamburtsev mountains, kicked up by continental drift, were eroded down to the root […]