Latest Articles

This is nuts: The House wants the EPA to stop protecting clean water

Oh, EPA, why do you have to go around, you know, regulating all the time? You know it just pisses off Republicans. You tried to keep coal companies in West Virginia from dumping waste into streams, so now House Republicans (and, to be fair, a handful of Democrats) have passed a bill that would take away your authority to enforce the Clean Water Act. I mean, what did you expect them to do?

No bigs, right? It's only one of the most fundamental environmental laws OF ALL TIME.

With HR 2018 House – Once Again – Passes Attack on Water, Science, Humans

Yesterday evening, the House of Representatives passed The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (HR 2018), a bill that turns back the clock 40 years on the environmental and public health protections in the Clean Water Act. This brazen attack on public protections is the closest big industrial polluters have ever come to completely gutting laws […]

Phoenix park will turn dog poop into light

Another point for dogs in eternal battle of cats vs. canines: While cats are bad for the environment, dog poop could help cut carbon costs. In Phoenix, a local dog park is trying to capture methane gas from dog waste and burn it in the park’s lamps.

Idaho highway is COVERED IN BEES

So that's what was happening with all the bees! It wasn't cell phones (okay, it really wasn't) or pesticide. They were just all inside a truck. And now that truck has crashed on an Idaho highway, releasing 14 million bees to go make a giant vat of potato honey or whatever bees do in Idaho. 

JetBlue offers $4 L.A.-to-L.A. flights for Carmageddon

Los Angeles is quaking in fear of "Carmageddon" this weekend, when 10 miles of heavily-populated Route 405 will be shut down. But never fear, Angelenos ... you won't have to spend even a single weekend not pumping out tons of carbon! JetBlue will let you fly from Burbank (just north of L.A.) to Long Beach (just south of L.A.) for only $4.

Critical List: Republicans vote to give states power over clean water; deer ticks in the Great Lakes

House Republicans voted yesterday to let states decide whether a company is living up to the Clean Water Act or not. The EPA's decision to prevent West Virginia coal companies from dumping waste into rivers prompted the bill to begin with, so it's pretty safe to assume that the bill's not meant to strengthen CWA protections.

The federal government says the cost of carbon is $21 per ton; a group of pro-environment economists says the cost is closer to $900 per ton.

China's feeding its "strategic pork reserve" with soybeans grown in Brazil on environmentally sensitive land.

As Moscow more than doubles in size, it will raze acres of forestland.

More density equals less driving: just an urban legend?

The National Household Transportation Survey suggests that only the steepest increases in density lead to reduced car usage.

Cut trash with tiny trash cans

We tend to associate the "everything bigger" approach with wastefulness -- oversized cars guzzle gas, McMansions drive up electricity bills, 72-ounce challenge steaks never get fully eaten. So it makes sense to think that downsizing trash cans might help downsize trash. That's what they're finding at Dartmouth College, anyway, where trash cans as small as quart-size yogurt containers (that's my ineptly 'shopped comparison above) are cutting down on waste.

When is it time to break up with your utility?

Boulder ends its franchise agreement with Xcel Energy and looks into independent, renewable options instead.

New solar cells can be printed on paper or fabric

Finally, your dream of solar pants (that don't look douchey) can come true! MIT researchers have devised solar panels that can be printed directly onto fabric, plastic, or paper, as easily as printing from an inkjet. The result is a flexible, malleable solar panel with enough juice to power ... well, okay, barely any juice at all right now. But it's still in the early stages of development! Besides, once you pair your solar pants with a solar shirt, tie, bag, fedora, and shoes, it'll start to add up, and you will also look very snappy.