Latest Articles

You shouldn’t be able to buy soda with food stamps

The USDA has rejected New York City's proposal to block the use of food stamps to buy soda. Anti-hunger advocates joined the soft-drink industry in rejoicing, but they've got it all wrong.

Why we should democratize the electricity system — part one

A serialized version of ILSR‘s new report, “Democratizing the Electricity System,” part one of five. The 20th century of electricity generation was characterized by ever larger and more distant central power plants.  But a 21st century technological dynamic offers the possibility of a dramatically different electricity future: millions of widely dispersed renewable energy plants and […]

NYT green-jobs story ignores 'explosive growth'

The New York Times article claims that the green economy has failed to live up to job-creation promises. This kind of premature, incorrect, and misleading reporting is dangerous.

Photo of devastation from the East Coast earthquake

(Via here, via here, ultimately via here.) Yep, we had a 5.9 magnitude earthquake over here! (Update: Boo, those buzzkills at USGS downgraded it back to 5.8.) It's probably Ragnarok. Or maybe planet Earth is still trying to tell us to piss off.

Northeast Corridor is getting better rail

Apparently you gotta have rail to make rail. The Northeast Corridor, the one area of the country with high-speed rail service (Acela) and the only part where Amtrak's not just borrowing the tracks from freight companies, is getting $745 million from the Department of Transportation for rail upgrades. 

Pants low, spirits high: McKibben on the ongoing tar-sands protest [VIDEO]

Bill McKibben was sprung from jail on Monday, as were the dozens of others arrested at the start of a protest against the proposed Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline. He said the freed protestors may have looked a bit saggy because they'd lost their belts, but that wasn't bringing them down: "Our pants may be low but our spirits are high, and our determination intact."

Does this wind turbine make McDonald's ass look green?

If you saw this on top of your local McDonald's, would it make you more likely to pull over for a burger and fries? I have to admit that it would work on me.

People don't care about climate impacts in other countries

Messages about the urgency of climate change that depict harms to people in other countries, or even just other parts of the same country, often backfire, says a new study.

Do your clothes contain toxic chemicals?

Chemicals in clothing can break down in water into hormone-disrupting nonylphenol (click the infographic to embiggen). If you want to avoid dumping this crap in the waterways, you have two choices: One, never wash your clothing -- which, on top of being gross, will probably not be that effective, since wastewater discharges from textile plants sluiced nonylphenol out into the waterways before your clothes even hit the store. Or two, opt for clothing from companies that don't use nonylphenol-producing chemicals (called nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs). According to research from Greenpeace, though, that might be tough. Of the 15 brands they tested for NPEs, only Gap had zero positive results.

How to save 20,000 oiled penguins

Dyan deNapoli (who apparently goes by the moniker "The Penguin Lady," which is awesome) was very, very put out by a suggestion during the Gulf Coast oil spill that oiled birds should be killed because they're going to die anyway.