Latest Articles

David Byrne, Janette Sadik-Khan on why New Yorkers fight over bike lanes

David Byrne.For a city widely seen as a haven for progressive thought, New York has put up surprisingly stiff resistance to helping cyclists get where they’re going in one piece. A year ago, before Wall Street greed had a monopoly on the New York protest scene, East Village residents gathered to voice concern over all […]

New ‘fish-friendly’ turbine means way more hydro power

Every year, the U.S. forgoes 8,500 megawatts of electricity because operating our hydro power facilities at full capacity would turn an unacceptable number of migratory fish into Li'l Lisa Slurry. (That's the equivalent of almost nine nuclear reactors' worth of lost baseload power.) So scientists and utilities are understandably pumped about the Alden Fish-Friendly Turbine, […]

Climate scientists to reformed skeptic: ‘Duh’

Climate Scientist Eric Steig's reaction to the announcement that former climate skeptic Richard Muller recently confirmed that the earth is in fact warming is perhaps best captured by this classic XKCD comic. As Steig put it at RealClimate: As far as the basic science goes, the results could not have been less surprising if the […]

Rick Perry’s energy plan: RUIN EVERYTHING

Rick Perry's not even gonna pretend he's interested in alternative energy — not even to wave his hands at ethanol for an ad that's running in Iowa. That's just not who he is, man! He's keeping it real. Ice cream. No, Perry's plan, as described by Perry, goes pretty much like this: Remove environmental regulations […]

Is the environmental crisis caused by the 7 billion or the 1%?

The United Nations says that the world’s population will reach 7 billion people this month. The approach of that milestone has produced a wave of articles and opinion pieces blaming the world’s environmental crises on overpopulation. In New York’s Times Square, a huge and expensive video declares that “human overpopulation is driving species extinct.” In […]

All of the internet uses less than 2 percent of the world’s energy

Humanity spends a lot of time on the internet. Too much, probably. And every little Google search, Facebook message, and tweet uses some energy. All that Hulu uses a lot more. It's been clear that energy going to internet use is growing, but how does it compare to total energy use? If we really want […]

Rep. Markey blasts GOP for making real laws to solve fake problems

This is the honest-to-god title of the video above as posted to Rep. Ed Markey’s official YouTube account, and also the news release on his website: “Oct. 25, 2011: GOP Farm Dust Bill A Waste of Time Cooked Up in Fantasy-Land.” Guys, he is awesome. Is it weird if he reminds me of Alan Alda? […]

Designers launch high-fashion bicycle labels

Do you wish you could bike more, but you can't bear the thought of going your whole commute without flashing high-end labels? Okay, probably not, but if you were we'd have a solution for you. Kate Spade, Missoni, and Ralph Lauren have all launched designer bikes this year. According to the rules of a New […]

Patagonia asks customers to overthrow capitalism’s basic tenets

Patagonia, the official apparel of green-minded outdoorsy people and all of San Francisco, wants its customers to buy fewer of its products. Instead, the company is asking that Patagonia lovers reuse and repair their clothes. The company will mend its products for cheap, and help customers sell them on eBay or through their website. It […]

Critical List: Rina heads to Cancun; French wildflowers are disappearing

Hurricane Rina is heading towards Cancun. The U.S. wants to start trade wars all over the place. First, the solar industry goes toe to toe with China, and now the House of Representatives is mixing it up by trying to exempt U.S. airlines from the EU emissions scheme. Multinational energy companies who want to exploit […]