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The numbers behind the numbers: Meet your 7 billion neighbors

Yeah, yeah, you know -- the world population is hitting 7 billion this year. Here are some facts about the world's people that you might not already be familiar with.

Biomass an important contribution, but not a magic bullet

There is a growing enthusiasm for biomass, as pundits like Arne Jungjohann look at small towns in Europe that are able to get 100% of their energy by burning wood and other biomass. But when these cases are presented out of context, I’m afraid some may draw unwarrantedly optimistic conclusions. Biomass power is not, in itself, […]

Meet the Greenie Pig

We join our hero as she strives for eco-enlightenment after a lifetime of just going halfway.

Texas Republican says we should still invest in solar after Solyndra

Here's Joe Barton, a Republican congressman from Texas, explaining why the Solyndra collapse shouldn't end solar loan guarantees. Refreshing! Solyndra had "too little oversight," Barton says, but solar is still viable and other companies should get loans if there's a reasonable expectation that taxpayers won't get screwed.

Tax expenditures: a boring thing you should be outraged about

In budget terms, tax expenditures may look the same as simple government spending, but the political differences are enormously important.

The bee's knees: DIY honey craze sweeps New York

Now that hives are finally legal in New York City, old-school "keeps" are joining brand new enthusiasts to create a honey renaissance.

Meet NYC's most-used turnstile

Public transportation aficionados have a new pilgrimage destination: A turnstile at the bottom of the escalators at the Columbus Circle stop of the New York subway. That's the most-used turnstile of the most-used transportation system in the country.

Move to New York, save the planet

New York City's transportation commissioner wants you to come clog up her roads and subways. "If you want to save the planet, move to New York," Janette Sadik-Khan said at a Clinton Global Initiative panel discussion on Tuesday. Thanks to dense, car-light living, she said, New Yorkers have a third of the carbon footprint of the average American.

It's Car Free Day! Let's celebrate with a traffic jam, like China did

Today is Car Free Day in the U.S., a holiday that will probably be celebrated by fewer people than Talk Like a Pirate Day. But we might still end up more observant than China, which had No Car Day yesterday -- and celebrated with a giant traffic jam.

Michele Bachmann thinks food regulation is 'overkill'

Let nobody say Michele Bachmann isn't consistent, at least in this one particular sense. The woman just doesn't like regulation. Even the kind that's meant to keep you from chowing down on E. coli casserole.