Latest Articles

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 […]

Power Shift recap: ‘Stuck on stupid,’ money pollution, and Snuffleupagus

Are you rallying in D.C. right now for the Power Shift 2011? You're NOT? Well, lucky for you we've been posting highlights over the weekend. Here's what you missed, you poor sap: Former White House advisor Van Jones wants to hold both parties to high standards, but he's not sure they'll live up to it. […]

Confessions of an international climate advocate at Powershift

I’ve just walked away from thousands of students who have taken to the streets of DC to tell the White House, dirty energy polluters, and Congress that they won’t rest until their vision of a clean energy future is realized.  It was a strange feeling, really, to walk away from all the energy and excitement […]

Germans pay extra for clean energy — is it worth it?

Germany has become a world leader in renewable power thanks in part to its Renewable Energy Act (EEG), which came into force in 2000. It established a feed-in tariff program that guarantees producers of carbon-free power an above-market rate of return for 20 years. EEG pays tariffs to solar PV, concentrated solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, and […]

Stalking the wild salamanders of Manhattan [UPDATED]

Perfectly at home.Photo: Sarah GoodyearIf I asked you where the picture above was probably taken, I don’t think your first answer would be Manhattan. But that’s exactly where I found this fine-looking red-backed salamander: In a brushy, overgrown part of a park in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. This is the second […]

Obama meets with young climate activists after they stand up to him

President Obama meets with Energy Action Coalition leaders in the White House. Photo: The White HouseYouth climate leaders in town for the Power Shift conference got some powerful evidence that their public frustration with President Obama is getting noticed in the Oval Office: Halfway through a meeting at the White House between leaders of the […]

Supreme Court set to weigh in on whether we can hold companies responsible for climate change

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court is set to rule on American Electric Power vs. Connecticut, a case where the state of Connecticut is suing a power company for contributing to global warming. Trying to research the legal details of this case is making me cry, so I hope you people appreciate the following bullet points, which […]

Bill McKibben’s must-watch speech at Power Shift

Bill McKibben gave a fiery speech to young climate activists Saturday night at Power Shift 2011. Here’s the video and transcript: All right, listen up. Very few people can ever say that they are in the single most important place they could possibly be, doing the single most important thing they could possibly be doing. […]