Latest Articles

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 […]

Friday music blogging: Portugal. The Man (exclusive world premiere videos!)

The annoyingly punctuated Portugal. The Man is a psychedelic rock band originally from Wasilla, Alaska, home of … oh, what was that crazy lady’s name again? They made their way down to their current home, Portland, Oregon, in the mid-2000s and have been cranking out albums ever since, gathering momentum and popularity along the way. […]

Street-art film fest! Reverse graffiti, urban archaeology, and other writings on the wall

The walls of our cities are becoming canvases for creative expression in the hands of a new generation of artists. These kids are street-smart and engaged. (And, OK, they’re not all kids.) They work, on some levels, in the same spirit as Occupy Wall Street, reclaiming and transforming the urban landscape, and infusing their art with […]

Carbon monoxide makes you breathe easier (metaphorically), says study

So, carbon monoxide will kill you, obviously. But like a lot of things that will kill you, in small quantities it apparently makes you feel really great! In a recent study, carbon monoxide exposure made people less stressed out about the negative effects of living in the city, including crowds, noise, and presumably carbon monoxide […]

A DIY bike lane in Mexico City

Tired of waiting for the Mexico City government to deliver on a promise to build 186 miles of bike lanes (they've managed 14), a group of residents decided to take matters into their own hands. Eighty people from local pedestrian and bike organizations built three miles of priority bike lane in eight hours.  These bike lanes […]

Climate denialism: It’s an Anglo-Saxon thing

According to a new study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, climate change denial — or at least, representation of climate change denial in the media — is pretty heavily an Anglo-Saxon problem. The study analyzed more than 3,000 articles from six countries that presented deniers' viewpoints, and 80 percent of them […]

Can the Keystone XL coalition stop climate change?

Cross-posted from the Council on Foreign Relations. Bryan Walsh, writing at TIME, is right: Bill McKibben and the Keystone XL protestors have pulled off something pretty impressive. I’m not talking about the merits of the indefinite delay to the pipeline that the State Department announced yesterday — the substantive case for blocking Keystone is weak. […]

Holy crap birds are amazing

Now that we know birds are basically just tiny dinosaurs, it makes them simultaneously more cool and more terrifying. On the one hand: tiny dinosaur that lives in your house and asks you for a cracker! On the other hand: tiny dinosaur that tries to get all up in your boardwalk fries! And here we […]

Spies among us: Café Nordo’s sustainable dinner theater

Photo: John CornicelloI’m on Pan Am Flight 892, en route to the 1962 World’s Fair. Only this is no ordinary airline food, and there are spies slinking among the seats. This is To Savor Tomorrow, the latest production from Seattle theater company Cafe Nordo. It’s the company’s fourth foray into dinner theater — although I […]