Latest Articles

North Korea runs on wood-burning trucks

If you've ever wondered what we'll do after we've run out of cheap oil, other than eat each other, you have only to look to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a.k.a. North Korea. Ever since the shipments of crude from the USSR and China dried up, they've had to improvise.

How a company you've never heard of could destroy the ocean ecosystem

Omega Protein, Inc. (a company you've never heard of) is quickly overfishing the Atlantic menhaden (a species you've never heard of). As a result, a number of fish that you have heard of -- striped bass, bluefish, tuna, dolphin, seatrout, and mackerel -- as well as the ocean ecosystem as a whole, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Long Island Sound (which you’ve heard of) are suffering.

Menhaden are tiny, bony, oily fish that humans can't eat, but which, according to marine scientists, are "the most important fish in the sea." Menhaden are the main consumers of phytoplankton, and without them, areas like the Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound are clogged with algae. They are also a staple food for bigger, tastier fish, who, deprived of menhaden, are growing sad and malnourished.

In the past 25 years, the menhaden population has shrunk from 160 billion to about 20 billion.

Renewable Energy Keeps Growing: Earth Summit in Rio provides an opportunity for even more action

Several new reports released over the past few days show that renewable energy keeps growing, with more countries implementing policies or incentives to spur renewable energy deployment.  The studies found that renewable energy accounted for $211 billion in new investments in 2010 – an increase of 32% from the previous year.  Next year at the […]

NYPD puts 50 Chevy Volt cruisers on the streets

The next time you're sitting in the bus lane, humming "Don't pull me over Mr. Officer" as NYC's finest ambles up to your window to ask for your license and registration, check your rear-view mirror. If you're lucky, you can take solace in the fact that you've just been nabbed by an officer driving one of the city's 50 brand new plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt cruisers.

The Bike Factor: Disability and the ability to ride a bicycle

For many people with disabilities, cars don't just symbolize independence and freedom, they make them possible. But this isn't universally true

Study: Earth losing its climate change defenses

Like your body, the planet can heal itself a little bit. Some places, like forests and oceans, are carbon sinks -- they absorb carbon from the atmosphere, slowing down the rate at which everything goes to hell. But climate change is no papercut, and as it gets worse, it’s actually breaking the planet’s immune system. Two new studies in Nature argue that two types of carbon sinks -- oceans and soil -- are becoming less effective as climate change advances.

Bikes — and rollerbladers — beat plane in Carmageddon race

What happens when L.A. is debilitated by repairs on a 10-mile stretch of freeway? Some people hop on a 35-mile plane ride to bypass it. And others get on their bikes and make it there in half the time. 

Critical List: Yellowstone pipe could have carried tar-sands oil; L.A. survived Carmageddon

The Yellowstone River spill could have included heavier, more corrosive tar-sands oil, federal officials said. This type of oil eats through pipes more quickly, and if ExxonMobiil was using those pipes to transport tar-sands oil, that decision could have contributed to the spill.

Carmageddon = over. And it turns out that, given the choice to avoid the freeway by plane or bike, it’s faster to bike.

It's not the best idea to buy meat from Japan right now. Just saying.

Your fish oil tablets are destroying marine ecosystems.

Burn, baby, burn: Ask Umbra on sun-protective clothing

Do pricy sun-protective garments really do a better job than regular old clothes? Ask Umbra unbuttons the question.

Viva veggies: Say goodbye to bacon, boys

You should be a vegetarian, and so should I. So I'm going to try it for one week, and drag my family along with me.