Latest Articles

Texas erases $4 billion from education budget, spends it on a giant highway expansion

What does the world need most, in this age of high gas prices and rampant carbon emissions? A 28-mile expansion of highway between Dallas and Denton, Texas! At least, that’s what Texas thinks. Thankfully, the state has freed up just enough money for this crucial project by gutting its education budget. Hey, whatever — Texas' […]

Mushrooms make short work of dirty diapers

As a sustainability solution, cloth diapers were never fun. Even the most eco-minded have been known to quail in front of a pail of soiled nappies. But a team of researchers has come up with an excuse for switching back to disposable diapers. They found that within 2 months, oyster mushrooms will consume 90 percent […]

The Yike Bike could make bike commuters of us all

You undoubtedly know someone who would totally commute by bike if it weren't for a whole raft of concerns: It's too dangerous! They're too cumbersome! I don't want to get sweaty on the way to the office! It is now time for those people to shut it. The YikeBike folds to the size of a […]

Turn your car into a car-share

So you’ve successfully reduced your car usage, and now you have this hunk of metal sitting around outside your house, like a garden gnome that needs annual emissions inspections. Why not share it, and maybe make some money? Car-sharing service Getaround has unveiled a kit that will allow people to offer their cars for short-term […]

Critical List: More Midwest deaths after storms; White House, NASCAR go green

More deaths in the Midwest after storms hit Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Some areas of Texas have received less than one-fifth the normal amount of rain in the last six months. The drought has cost $1.5 billion so far. But these catastrophes are totally unrelated, right? Bill McKibben takes his sarcastic stick to anyone who'll […]

Great places: dense, wired, and sustainable

This is part three in a series on “great places.” Read parts one, two, four, and five. Part of what makes great places great is ecological sustainability. So what’s the best way to reduce our per-capita resource footprint? Typically you hear one of two stories. One is about technology: making gadgets, appliances, vehicles, and factories […]

The 10 deadliest cities for pedestrians in the United States [SLIDESHOW]

Streets in the U.S. are designed not for people, but for cars. And it shows. From 2000 through 2009, some 47,700 pedestrians were killed by drivers. Transportation for America has released a new report and interactive map that shows which metro areas are deadliest. Here are the 10 worst.

Missouri tornado whips up media discussion of climate change and extreme weather

Devastation in Joplin, Mo.Photo: KOMUnewsThe devastation of Joplin, Mo., has led to a super-storm of media stories on the link between climate change and extreme weather, including tornadoes. After April saw records set for most tornadoes in a month and in 24 hours, I examined the link in great detail here, looking at the data, […]

Micronesia challenges Europe’s dirty energy

The Czech Republic’s biggest polluter, the Prunéřov power station.Photo: Felix OThe Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), an island nation scattered across the Pacific north of New Guinea, has already had to confront the tides of climate change, which have eaten away at its coasts and left its food and water security in shambles. When leaders […]

In Chicago, coal is the real crime

Greenpeace activists climbed the smokestack at the Fisk coal plant.Photo: GreenpeaceA sad fact of living in an American city like Chicago is that every time we open a newspaper or switch on the local news, we hear of some senseless, tragic crime that has claimed an innocent life. We become outraged, and we demand justice […]