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Bad in the sack: Ask Umbra on neighborhood recycling deviants

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, My neighbors do not recycle appropriately — they throw in frozen food boxes, bag their recyclables in plastic bags and who knows what else! Does that mean that all my efforts are in vain? Elizabeth Raley submitted via Facebook What can you do about a neighbor who […]

Everyone’s apparently psyched to kill some wolves now

Well, Sarah Palin will like this one: Congress has quietly removed wolves from the endangered species list in almost every state, leading hunters in the Rocky Mountain states to gear up for an unprecedented wolf-slaughtering party. Wolf numbers have grown to 1,700 since 1994, and proponents of the delisting say the new healthier population of […]

High gas prices mean Exxon will make more money than any publicly held company in history this year

Exxon's earnings are expected to go up 50 percent this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. What was Washington's response? The House GOP voted overwhelmingly to protect the billions in taxpayer subsidies oil and gas companies receive. So let's see … you're paying Exxon at the pump, and you're also paying them on tax day. It's […]

What mistakes did the progressive environmental community make in the climate bill fight?

The pro-action side made a number of mistakes, as I’ve said many times.  Here are three: Failure to create a grassroots movement that could seriously cost an opposing politician (as, say, the NRA can). Messaging flaws, especially by Obama, who simply didn’t use the bully pulpit to make his case to the public. Inadequate Senate […]

Washington is lying to you about the cause of high gas prices

When it comes to the causes of high prices for gasoline, Washington is reaching truly epic levels of mendacity. Last Thursday, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) aimed to "set the record straight on America's oil" in a Washington Post op-ed that was completely jam-packed with BS. Murkowski, along with countless other congresscritters on both sides of […]

Dirty clouds: Greenpeace ranks tech giants on their data centers’ coal dependency

Tech companies have something hanging over their heads.Photo: The SharpteamAs I sit here at the Local 123 café in Berkeley on Earth Day, a dozen hipsters are transfixed by their Macbooks, their heads lost in the cloud. According to a Greenpeace report [PDF] released this week, all those presumably green and well-meaning digital workers-slash-slackers are […]

Nesting doll EV is an electric car with an electric trike inside

New cuteness rule: Anything that contains a smaller version of itself is adorable. Think about it: Kangaroos, koalas, Mandelbrot sets. (No? Adorable fractals? Nobody?) Ergo the McCar, from Chinese company Geely, is the cutest EV ever, because it's not just a sweet little full-electric or hybrid car. It also contains a tiny fold-up electric scooter, […]

How the bicycle economy can help us beat the energy crisis

This is the fifth column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. Libya. Bahrain. Iraq. Afghanistan. Canada. Fukushima. North Dakota. The Gulf Coast. Pennsylvania. Each of these stories stands alone as an urgent parable about our increasingly fragile reliance on affordable, plentiful energy. Take them together, and the myth of abundant fuel that our […]

Self-healing plastic lets gadgets take a licking and keep on ticking

Here’s a good way to cut down on waste: Stop breaking sh*t. To that end, scientists are working on self-healing materials that can extend the life of your belongings. One new polymer, developed by scientists in Switzerland, can heal deep scratches just by being exposed to ultraviolet light. It's like an immune system for your […]

Climate-change planning should include family planning

Women and their kids in Kunderpara, Bangladesh.The women of Kunderpara village are used to having water all around them. They live on an island in the middle of one of Bangladesh’s many large rivers. The women are even used to the occasional seasonal flood. But lately when the river floods, it takes on new, terrifying […]