Latest Articles

America uses more corn for fuel than for food

In America, most corn is no longer meant for eating, at least by humans. Only 20 percent of all the gazillions of ears of corn the United States grows make it into a person's mouth as corn.

The rest goes to feed animals (which do make it into people's mouth as beef and other meats) and to brew corn ethanol. In one year, we used more than 5 billion bushels of corn for ethanol, which we don't even use that much of!

Critical List: Australia inches from passing a carbon tax; Rick Perry’s secret economic sauce

Australia's carbon tax bill passed its lower House by a thin majority; it should easily pass the Senate and make it into law.

An oil cleanup contest awarded $1 million to the winning Team Elastec/American Marine, which soaked up 4,670 gallons of oil per minute and got to 89.5 percent of the oil, on average.

China is going to tax the hell out of oil and gas and reinvest the money in nuclear reactors and wind farms.

To till or not to till

In farming circles, the debate about whether or not to till soil has been going on for years. Now the latest information from the Rodale Institute kicks up more dirt.

Riding the crimson tide: bicycling when you have your period

Elly Blue demystifies the one true women's issue in bicycling: biking on your period.

Experiment in (e)co-habitation gets the green light

It looks like a hippie commune. It smells like a hippie commune. But the Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage is not a hippie commune!

Rick Perry's energy plan: drill more, pollute more, spew a lot of hot air

Rick Perry released a new attack ad and op-ed that lay out a strategy of drilling for more oil and gas and rolling back clean air and water standards.

Food Studies: the taste-testers' blind spots

Why taste tests conducted in controlled environments don’t tell the whole story.

Welcoming invasive species, while keeping terrorists out

Since Sept. 11, the Department of Homeland Security has scaled back efforts to protect the nation from destructive, invasive pests. How secure do you feel now?

Obama's jobs council hearts environmental destruction

The Fortune 500 CEOs who make up the president's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness are all about building Keystone XL, reinstating deepwater drilling in the Gulf, and fracking up West Virginia. The idea is that these projects will create jobs and economic growth, at least until there's a disaster of some sort that economically depresses […]

Street artists see the city as their canvas

The artist Gaia is part of a young generation using art to revitalize cities, engage residents, and connect to the past.