Latest Articles

Spice up your sustainable pantry: Look for fair trade seasonings

Your award-winning chili recipe calls for grass-fed beef, organic tomatoes, and locally grown carrots. But what about the cumin? The salt? The chili powder? We greens have been well trained by now to look for fair trade everything, but sustainable spices have received less attention than other make-your-life-better products like chocolate and coffee. But many […]

Dim bulbs: Umbra on the supposed dangers of CFLs

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My sister recently posted a story about CFLs causing cancer to her Facebook feed. Is there anything to this latest attempt to vilify the little lamps? Brian Spokane, Wash. Are these maybe not such a bright idea? More research is needed.Photo: Derek GaveyA. Dearest Brian, Those little […]

Tim DeChristopher and the March on Blair Mountain

“I went in thinking that I was sacrificing my freedom by taking such an action. This is not really the case. The sacrifice had happened before: when I had spent years being obedient to a system that is powerful and destructive; when I accepted the myth I had no power to change things; when I […]

Climate change could give you brain fungus [VIDEO]

When Trudy Rosler first got sick after a visit to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, doctors were stumped. Eventually, they discovered that she had a fungus growing in her brain stem — one that was previously only known to exist in the tropics. Researchers say that subtle changes in climate over the last 40 years […]

Cycling survivor: A post-crash meditation on what really matters

Be more human, less of a machine. Also, wear a helmet.Photo: Jorgen SchybergI was badly injured in a bike accident on April 13. Eyewitness reports differ, but it’s likely that a car ran over my head, and it’s more than likely that the helmet clasped around my head saved my life. The temporal bone on […]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, climate crank, considering presidential run

Rick Perry, conservative darling.Photo: Gage SkidmoreA weak field of GOP presidential candidates is weakening the resolve of politicians who’ve been insisting they don’t want to run. After saying for months that he had no interest in getting into the race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry changed his tune on Friday and told reporters, “I’m going to […]

Friday music blogging: The Head and the Heart

The Head and the Heart are not only a Seattle band, they’re from the neighborhood where I used to live, Ballard. They self-released their eponymous debut album in 2009 and immediately started getting huge buzz. The album was the No. 1 seller of 2010 at beloved Ballard record store Sonic Boom. Since then they’ve toured […]

Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China

As China’s pollution soars, so do rates of cancer. This post was written by Janet Larsen, director of research for the Earth Policy Institute. Additional resources at www.earth-policy.org. Cancer is now the leading cause of death in China. Chinese Ministry of Health data implicate cancer in close to a quarter of all deaths countrywide. As […]

How to build a better playground

This story was written by Shanti Menon. In her new book Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation, Berkeley-based environmental planner Sharon Danks explores the ways in which landscape design, architecture, child development, and nutrition converge in the schoolyard. OnEarth sat down with Danks, whose firm, Bay Tree Designs, Inc, is helping redevelop some […]

Down with coal! The grassroots anti-coal movement goes global

The article was coauthored by Bob Burton (CoalSwarm, Australia), Christine Shearer (CoalSwarm, U.S.), Cynthia Ong (LEAP, Malaysia), Jamie Henn (350.org, U.S.), John Hepburn (Greenpeace, Australia), Joshua Frank (CoalSwarm, U.S.), Justin Guay (Sierra Club, U.S.), Kate Hoshour (International Accountability Project, U.S.), and Mark Wakeham (Environment Victoria, Australia). In Thailand, 10,000 people call on their government to […]