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American teens smarter about climate change than adults, despite knowing less

More American teens than adults believe climate change is caused by humans, 57 percent versus 50 percent, says a new survey from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Yet American teens also tend to know slightly less than adults on the subject of climate science, says the same survey. Some of these numbers are […]

Google antes up $100 million (more) for advanced wind farm

Google's latest investment in wind power is much more than just the latest chapter in the company's support for renewable energy. It's part of a larger strategy that could see the search giant turn into a (very profitable) behemoth in the world of energy. According to Katie Fehrenbacher, veteran renewable energy reporter at Earth2Tech: The Shepherds […]

Here’s what Earth was like last time CO2 was this high

Last time there was this much CO2 in the atmosphere was 3 million years ago, in the Pliocene era. What can that tell us about what we're in for? The world will probably keep warming. Sea levels will probably keep rising. Ice sheets will probably keep melting. Saber-tooth tigers? NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. Okay, […]

Congress Passes a Budget That Doesn't Invest Enought in International Efforts to Curb Global Warming

The long drama of whether or not the US Congress would invest in international efforts to curb global warming pollution or gut these investments is finally over – at least for the rest of this fiscal year.  Last week President Obama signed into law a budget for the rest of this fiscal year (fiscal year […]

Surprise! Developed world uses less energy per person than it did 20 years ago

If you're the sort who wakes up every morning to a media diet that can only be delivered via a Wolf Blitzer situation room-style array of glowing screens and buzzing whatsits, you probably suspect that you're using more energy than the mid-90's you, the one who warmed herself over a kerosene lamp and ate hardtack […]

This is what a Power Shift looks like [SLIDESHOW]

Thousands of young climate activists descended on Washington, D.C., over the weekend for the third biennial Power Shift conference. Then on Monday they took their message to the streets and the president’s doorstep. Check out these photos by Jay Mallin to get a sense of what went down. Photo: Jay Mallin The Power Shift crowd […]

What would happen if Americans had a say in how their tax money is spent?

Lemme tell you …How would America change if taxpayers were allowed to specify how their tax money were spent? That fascinating question (no, really, it’s fascinating!) is explored in a piece by Cait Lamberton in the latest issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Side note: if you don’t read Democracy, you really should bookmark […]

How to solve world hunger by bringing farming indoors

What if the only way to save crops from climate change was taking the climate out of the equation entirely? Researchers in the Netherlands think that artificially lit, carefully irrigated "sunless farming" may have the power to reverse world hunger. With the right crops and the right equipment, researchers think that a space as small […]

The EPA chooses sprawl over urban sustainability

Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. In defiance of the environmental values it supposedly stands for, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is moving its regional headquarters from a walkable, transit-rich, downtown Kansas City (Kan.) neighborhood to one of the worst examples of suburban sprawl it could have possibly found, some 20 miles from downtown. […]

If you like solar, tell your utility to publish this map

Distributed energy generation (like solar) brings unique and valuable benefits to the electric grid. But capturing those benefits means solar and other renewable energy developers must find the best places to plug in to the grid, e.g. where demand is high or infrastructure is stressed. The cost to connect distributed generation may also be lower […]