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Paris to be powered by body odor

Okay, not quite. But the City of Lights is fast becoming the City of Innovative but Slightly Bizarre Energy Solutions, including new ways to harness the heat you might otherwise not want to touch. Sewer water: French children are probably too classy to be delighted by this the way American children would be, but last […]

Susan Sarandon explains mountaintop-removal mining in 60 seconds [VIDEO]

If most of us have a notion of mountaintop-removal mining, it's that somewhere in Appalachia a bunch of extras from Winter's Bone are getting their view spoiled by some trucks and TNT. But these are real people, and the environmental catastrophe they're experiencing — entire counties turned into flattened moonscapes like you'd expect after a […]

Endangered wolves sacrificed for budget deal

Although Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama stood firm against Republican attempts to repeal clean air and clean water protections, wolves (such as the famous Limpy) in the Northern Rockies weren’t so lucky. Under pressure from ranching interests in Montana and Idaho, as well as anti-wolf zealots in those states, Reid and Obama […]

Japan cannot catch a break

Did Japan do something to anger the universe? (Don’t answer that, Jerry Falwell.) After a massive offshore quake, a devastating tsunami, and a nuclear crisis, the beleaguered country is now being treated to aftershocks that would make most quakes feel silly. As for the nuclear status … who knows? It probably isn’t good. Aftershocks ruin […]

The economic case for on-street bike parking

This is the fourth column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling.  Bicycling and driving have one thing in common that is almost universally frustrating, time consuming, friction causing, and potentially expensive. Parking. No matter how seamless your ride across town, no matter how well-timed the traffic lights or low-conflict the bike lanes, […]

Natural gas from fracking is worse for climate than coal, says new study

Photo: Erland HowdenNatural gas obtained through "fracking" — the increasingly common process of splitting open underground deposits with high pressure chemicals — now has an even bigger strike against it than its potential to contaminate regional water supplies. Fracking, it turns out, yields more global warming per unit of energy than coal — at least […]

EPA is safe, for now

Well, the government isn’t being shut down, and the castrate-the-EPA riders have been stripped from the budget bill. For now, at least, the world is safe for those brutes at the EPA to keep oppressing helpless rich, powerful industry giants who only want to kill the planet a little. Don’t get too comfortable, though; this […]

Are Canada’s disastrous tar sands coming your way?

Alberta’s scenic tar sands.Photo: Suncor EnergyThis essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. For years, “not in my backyard” has been the battle cry of residents in Cape Cod who stand opposed to an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The giant turbines will forever mar the beauty […]

‘Let’s talk about sex’ — and what American teenagers don’t know about it [VIDEO]

“Every day in America, 10,000 teenagers catch an STD, 2,400 young girls become pregnant, and 55 young people are infected with HIV.” Those sobering stats are from a documentary airing on TLC tonight, April 9, at 10 p.m. / 9 central. Let’s Talk About Sex is directed by James Houston, a fashion photographer who came […]

Friday music blogging: Paul Simon

In sixth grade, when I was about 11 years old, I used to spend a lot of time at my friend Luke’s house. His parents were more bohemian than mine (of course these things are relative in Cookeville, TN) and they were always playing old vinyl of ’60s and ’70s singer-songwriters. Back then I was […]