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Innovative farmer Eliot Coleman speaks [AUDIO]

Eliot Coleman.Eliot Coleman is one of the most innovative, successful, and influential small-scale farmers in the United States. Eliot runs Four Seasons Farm in Maine, where he has become legendary for producing top-quality vegetables through Maine’s harsh winters. His books, which include The Winter Harvest Handbook, and Four Season Harvest, are considered bibles among farmers […]

A look inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

This video shows the status of restoration work at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, two months after the plant's safety systems first failed (and a week after the TEPCO power company officially confirmed that the plant was in meltdown). Offices are still littered with debris from the earthquake damage, and workers wear gas masks and […]

Prof. Socolow’s bizarre climate comments and the pessimism of Serious People

The blogosphere is all abuzz about recent comments from Princeton professor Robert Socolow, who along with fellow scholar Stephen Pacala developed the famous “wedges” approach to tackling climate change. (A wedge of nuclear, a wedge of solar, a wedge of efficiency, etc., and slowly you get that emissions curve down. That’s the basic idea anyway.) […]

The U.K.’s emissions targets are awesome

Oh, United Kingdom! Whatever else can be said about your bad food and stupid weddings, this much is clear: You are world leaders in funny sci-fi, classic sketch comedy, thwarted imperialism, and now emissions reduction targets. The U.K. has committed to cutting emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2025, a target that's well […]

Bringing a dead public plaza to life in Dallas

Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Although it sometimes makes “ugliest building in the world” lists, I rather like I.M. Pei’s iconic Dallas City Hall, featuring his trademark architectural triangles. Photo: Chris Zúniga But I’ll grant that it is imposing. What I don’t like is the vast, forlorn “plaza” and pool that separates the […]

Could climate disruptions lead to an increase in GIANT SNAKES?

Here's another reason to combat climate change: Severe weather events can flush out terrifying giant snakes. This photo — which gives me ALL THE WILLIES. ALL OF THEM — was taken in Louisiana near the Morganza spillway, a flood control structure that was just employed to relieve pressure on the levee system after recent floods. […]

Minneapolis to open 12 vacant lots to gardening

Minneapolis is opening up 12 vacant lots across the city to groups that will turn them into community gardens, because a lot strewn with tomatoes and strawberries sure beats one strewn with empty McDonald's cups. There's a long tradition of using empty space in cities for community gardens, and these programs can go wonky when […]

California schemin’: How a fake organic fertilizer bamboozled farmers and watchdogs alike

What’s the difference?: What seemed like organic fertilizer to farmers could have been spiked with the synthetic kind.Truck photo (left): Iris Shreve Garrott It’s no secret that the organic food industry has seen explosive growth, taking only a mild drubbing through the recession and then continuing its ascent. At the heart of that growth has […]

Win-win situation: Using competition to change behavior

Ready, set … change!Photo: Jon MarshallA couple of weeks back, I went to a conference at the Garrison Institute, located in a former monastery in the Hudson River Valley of New York. The presenters included municipal officials from around the country, many of them somewhat weary veterans of battles to motivate citizens to recycle, or […]

Project Aura bike lighting system puts wheel reflectors to shame

Project Aura is the brainchild of two Carnegie Mellon students, who challenged themselves to make a bike lighting system that would make night riding more secure. Currently, most bike lights focus on the front and back of the bike, and are all but invisible from the side; with Project Aura's wheel-mounted LEDs, bikes are unmissable […]