Latest Articles

Splendor in the grass at an Iowa activist’s dairy farm [VIDEO]

Last year, we created 52 episodes about sustainable and adventurous food in Minnesota. For the final episode of this past season, we announced our plans to take this web series on the road. And with this episode (No. 53!) we start a whole new round of weekly videos about real food across America. Traveling with my camerawoman […]

Eco-geeks rejoice: Here is Nathan Fillion with an electric car

Remember when we called the Arcimoto SRK "an electric car for the Facebook generation"? Apparently it's also an electric car for the "Firefly" generation. Actor Nathan Fillion got all excited about the car at its launch, and his remarks get at the main reasons for wanting an electric car: Spaceship resemblance and revenge. Thank you […]

Anti-climate change study is copied off someone else’s crummy paper

Note to climate change deniers: If you're going to lean heavily on a particular paper, make sure it's not copied out of Wikipedia. The journal Computational Statistics and Data Analysis has retracted a 2008 report by statistician Edward Wegman, which claimed the climate change consensus is an artifact of overly-intimate collaboration between scientists — essentially, peer […]

Why Germany had to phase out nuclear to build its renewables

Lots of American journalists (including this one!) have gone on and on about renewables and nuclear power in Germany without having a first-hand appreciation of the situation, or even any German language ability. This has led us all to misapprehend some pretty basic facts about why the Germans decided to phase out their existing nuclear […]

Nearly 1 million Bangladeshis rely on solar panels for electricity

Less than half of Bangladeshis have access to electricity, which is essential for economic productivity and the kind of night-time illumination that allows kids to study after dark. (Hey, not everyone is as determined as Abe Lincoln.) So the World Bank is spending to get solar-powered light systems installed where the (notoriously unreliable) electrical power […]

Critical List: Solar panels and toxin-filled boilers for all

The home improvement store Lowe's is partnering with Sungevity, a solar panel company, to offer instant, in-store estimates for home solar installation. The panels can be rented for a monthly fee. There goes your excuse: Get off the grid, already. The EPA caved to manufacturers’ push to delay emissions standards for toxins like mercury and […]

What we know — and don’t know — about the safety of eating GMOs

GMOs ahead: Proceed at your own risk.Are genetically modified foods safe to eat? The conventional answer is “yes,” and it’s not hard to see why. Since their introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) or genetically engineered (GE) corn and soy seeds quickly conquered U.S. farm fields. Today, upwards of 70 percent of corn and 90 […]

Cuts to U.K. solar incentive may spread economic benefits more widely

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. A proposed revision to the United Kingdom’s feed-in tariff program may have created an uproar, but it may also help spread the economic benefits of solar more widely.  The proposed changes, announced in March, would reduce solar […]

Obama’s oil plan shows he still doesn’t get post-truth politics

In his weekly address, Obama once again promoted an energy plan that centrally involves increased domestic drilling for oil and gas. You can read the ugly details at The New York Times or Politico. Here’s the political thinking that informs this move: Gas prices are rising and people are angry. Republicans and conservative Dems are […]

Scholastic’s pro-coal curriculum pulled from schools

Scholastic, the children's book publisher, took a big pile of money from the American Coal Foundation and turned it into a curriculum for 4th graders that (surprise!) didn't mention any of the drawbacks of coal. Now Scholastic is all sorry it pimped out America's kids to the industry that quite possibly cares least about their […]