Latest Articles

Why cities should destroy their highways

America has a huge transportation infrastructure deficit, which means lots of our highways are due to be rebuilt. But according to Next American City editor at large Diana Lind, we'd be better off simply knocking them down, especially the ones that blight our cities. It's been done before, reports Andrew Nusca at SmartPlanet: After the […]

Romney is recycling all of Bush’s EPA-hating energy advisors

Political windsock Mitt Romney has no opinions of his own about energy, so he's hired a bunch of people to tell him what to think about it, reports Politico. And almost all of those people are former Bush Jr. employees. Already on board the Romney train are Jim Connaughton, who ran Bush’s White House Council […]

Spray coating makes your stuff last forever so you can buy less of it

If you watch one video today, make it this one — the shot of chocolate sauce sliding off a pristine pair of white tennis shoes looks like pure CGI. But it's real. As Tuan Nguyen explains at SmartPlanet, what you're looking at is a new type of spray-on silicon coating that dries into a nano-scale […]

How your Prius is hurting the planet

Hybrid cars like the Prius emit less carbon than conventional cars. But they also depend on rare earth materials to make their engines work. And the mining of rare earth extracts a heavy toll on the environment in other ways. China has most of the world's easily accessible rare earth (which isn't actually rare, just […]

Critical List: Republicans say enviros threaten border safety; Climate change will kill the Nile

Republicans aren't against environmental protections just because those laws "kill jobs." Supposedly they also damage national security. Canada sticks its fingers in its ears, sticks out its tongue, and tells the U.S. it'll just sell its tar sands oil to China. Forget Solyndra: California-based NRG Energy is a much more typical — and much more […]

McKibben to critics: Forget NIMBY — the new battle cry is ‘Not On Our Planet’

My very favorite piece of punditry about the Keystone XL pipeline appeared the day after President Obama sent it back for more review, perhaps killing it off altogether. It came from the pen of a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations named Michael Levi, who had spent the last few months endlessly opining […]

Something to be thankful for: Real turkeys make a comeback

Royal Palm Turkey, one of eight varieties considered to be heritage breeds.Photo: Amy Martin PachayIn 1997, The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) took a turkey census. For about half a century, nearly every turkey farm in the U.S. had been raising a breed known as the Broad Breasted White. (This cost-efficient, big-breasted bird has a […]

Ask Umbra: Is it bad to leave a window open when the heat is on?

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, When I was in college, I had a friend who thought she was eco-conscious, but she used to crank the heat and then leave the windows open for “fresh air.” Years later, I dated a woman who lived in a building where the heaters were stuck on […]

Is the pipeline victory a turning point for the climate movement?

Two days ago, I was convinced that the amazing Keystone XL pipeline victory won by the North American climate movement on Nov. 10 was going to be, without question, a pivotal turning point. Today, having thought more about it, I’d say it’s more like somewhere between “maybe” and “probably.” I’m reminded of another “victory” that […]

Climate change is messing with cocktail hour

Come Friday, I’m usually pretty torched after a typical week of being attacked as a hypocrite for working on climate change in the ski industry. So, often, I’ll join our company CFO for a cocktail. Our favorite is a Manhattan, which I mix up with some Gentleman Jack if possible, because I like owner Brown-Forman’s […]