Latest Articles
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Clean air and clean energy successes — and some rap
Who doesn’t love good news? Let’s start with something catchy — maybe a soundtrack as you read the rest of this column. This week we released a video created by DJ Steve Porter, known for his innovative “remix” videos, featuring celebrities, sports stars, and now Michael Bloomberg, philanthropist and mayor of New York City, and […]
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As if they haven't done enough for you, trees also increase property values
Trees, man! They produce oxygen, they cool the planet, they make you smarter, and it turns out they also make your house worth more. It's like a Shel Silverstein book or something.
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Guitar Antihero 4: Gibson's crusade is off-key with U.S. workers
The Tea Party and Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz say restricting illegal logging overseas will cost jobs, but American companies and unions beg to differ.
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Peebottle Farms: Chicken expertology
How are chickens like us? Are they easy to care for? Can you feed them onions? Here's what I learned in my first three months.
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Coal is the enemy of the human race, mainstream economics edition
Coal-fired power is a gigantic, blood-sucking parasite that's enriching a few executives and shareholders at the public's expense, a new report suggests.
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Try out these 50 hilarious no-handed bike moves
If you have ever thought to yourself "self, I wonder what are the 50 most hipsterish bike tricks," wonder no more. Not sure how I feel about "the Hitler" — guys, that one is historically not really funny? — but you gotta love the "Def Leppard drummer," the "nasty internet commenter," and the "fall the […]
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Reenact global warming in your cocktail
This Japanese site sells ice cube molds depicting penguins and polar bears sitting on ice floes. As the ice melts, both the floes and the critters are destroyed, making this a pretty good simulation of the effects of global warming. Finally, a product that combines climate education with all the drinking you need to do […]
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Here’s a win-win: Geothermal power can make lithium for electric vehicles
Existing geothermal power plants are powered by a hot brine from deep within the earth's crust, which is just lousy with dissolved minerals -- literally "half the periodic table," reports Scientific American. One of those elements is lithium, which can be extracted from the geothermal fluid that existing power plants in California's Salton Sea are already pulling out of the ground.
This is remarkable on many levels at once.
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How Central Park cools the entire planet
Like all urban parks, Central Park cools New York City through evaporation. That is, its plant life and ponds give off moisture, which takes heat energy with it. It's as if the park sweats.
Until recently, though, we didn’t know whether green spaces cool the planet as a whole.
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Is this the perfect urban bike?
This bike, designed by custom bike maker Tony Pereira, took top prize in an Oregon Manifest competition to design the perfect urban utility cycle. Pereira's bike is intended as a transitional vehicle for people trying to make the switch from cars. It includes a stereo, a front-mounted locking "trunk," and an electric assist motor. (Plus, it has a cupholder, of sorts! That should appeal to the SUV crowd.)
