Latest Articles

Will gas prices turn America into Europe?

If you thought driving sporty little fuel-efficient vehicles and living a reasonable distance from work was strictly an affectation of Continentals who kiss their ladies down there, we've got news for you: Turns out these behaviors can be induced in any population, whatever the likelihood that its colors will run, simply by increasing the cost […]

A violent climate is the new normal, say scientists

"Extreme weather" may soon just be called "weather." Thanks to climate change, floods and storms and droughts and Snowpocalypses and the like will soon be standard office procedure, according to scientists and civic planners brought together by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Nobody was willing to say that any specific recent instances of severe weather […]

Learn about oil prices through the magic of rap

Kids these days, with their "emo" and their "MySpace" and their "sexting"! How do you "get down" verbally to show you're "hep"? How about a rap music song! Actually, while the apparent vogue of rap-based explainers is a little weird, we can't complain too much about this one, since it brought us the line "oil's […]

Critical List: Reid, enviro groups talk air quality; DDT in Africa

Harry Reid met with Big Environment last night to strategize a defense of the Clean Air Act. Politico says a key point of debate was whether enviros should go after errant, but potentially vulnerable Dems on green issues during the next election cycle. Senators rejected a bill that would have sped up oil drilling, then […]

Want a better organic garden? Call out the soil-critter army

The helpful Jerusalem cricket.Photo: Franco FoliniCross-posted from Cool Green Science. There are 1 billion bacteria in a single gram of soil. (Give or take a few million.) But how can you get that army — and its insect friends, like the two-inch Jerusalem cricket pictured to the right — to help you grow bigger veggies […]

Is climate sanity the kiss of death for Republican presidential candidates?

Beware the kiss of death.Even after backing away from his previous support for cap-and-trade programs, Jon Huntsman is getting slammed by the right wing. His treasonous crime? Daring to suggest that climate scientists might be right. Not that they are right, mind you, and not that we should do anything in response to their warnings, […]

Senate refuses to sign ‘We Heart Offshore Drilling’ petition

Well, here's one piece of good news coming out of D.C.: The Senate — including five Republicans — voted to reject a bill that would have expanded offshore drilling. Of course, that might be because there are already plenty of new drilling permits being issued (53 shallow-water permits under the new post-Gulf spill regulations), so […]

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.) […]