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Beijing denies air pollution while party elites get home air purifiers

While China's citizenry are dying in record numbers owing to catastrophic levels of urban air pollution, the country's leaders are breathing Perri-Air. That is, their offices and homes use elaborate, expensive air filters to prevent the country's elites from having to breathe the same toxic shit as the plebes in the street. Meanwhile, the government reports […]

Incredible shrinking farmland

Photo: Alicia Guy Joel Huesby comes from a long line of conventional farmers, but in 1994, he had what he calls an epiphany that led him to switch to organic farming. He’s of the mind that we’ll drive ourselves to extinction if we drive our farmlands that way first. “Conventional commodity agriculture, to my way […]

Keystone XL would be right on top of latest Oklahoma earthquakes

Red: proposed route for Keystone XL Orange star: epicenter of Saturday's magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma, which buckled a highway and cracked a building. The state is currently recovering from the quake and bracing for storms. A decade hence, if Keystone XL were running straight through the state, would they also be dealing with a […]

One-wheeled electric motorcycle is like a Segway, but cool

Sure, the RYNO looks like the hideous progeny of a motorcycle and a unicycle (nobody likes to talk about that night behind the circus tents), but it could be your new means of urban transportation. It runs off a lithium-ion battery that recharges in 90 minutes, has a smaller footprint than a Vespa, and is […]

Most honey isn’t really honey

Chances are, that stuff sittng in the plastic bear in your pantry doesn't technically qualify as honey. The FDA requires honey to have microscopic particles of pollen, which allow the honey to be traced to its source so regulators can be sure it comes from safe origins. But nearly all of the honey that's sold […]

We could replace coal power with geothermal — 10 times over

The United States has so many viable spots for producing geothermal energy — i.e. tapping into the heat of the Earth’s core to generate power — that the country's geothermal potential is equivalent to "10 times the amount of coal capacity in place today," according to Climate Progress. Southern Methodist University developed this geothermal map […]

Texas drought threatens to take away pecan pie

First it came for the wine and bacon. Then it came for the coffee and chocolate. Now, climate change (or, to be specific, the drought in Texas that's consistent with weather patterns that climate scientists have predicted) is threatening to take away pecan pie and RUIN THANKSGIVING. According to the Southwest Farm Press, early reports […]

Handy image shows how climate deniers manipulate data

This image from Skeptical Science is a great illustration of how data can be manipulated to serve your purpose. It shows how skeptics point to small declines in temperature by comparing warm years with cold ones seven to 10 years later — but if you trace the trend over 40 years, you see an obvious warming […]

Critical List: Thousands protest Keystone XL; Mongolia shovels coal into China

An estimated 10,000 Keystone XL protesters circled the White House this weekend, as the White House edged towards a decision on the pipeline. The ring of protesters was stacked five people deep. Green groups are threatening the Obama administration with political repercussions if the pipeline goes forward. If environmentalists withhold their support, it could have […]

Encircling the White House — a new beginning is here

About noon, as the organizers of yesterday’s encirclement of the White House to stop the tar-sands pipeline were setting up, someone said, “the flag is flying over the White House, that means President Obama is home.” Said a U.S. Park Police person standing next to me, “it’s not true, sorry to disappoint, but he’s not […]