Latest Articles
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The omnivore’s other dilemma: expanding access to non-industrial food
Buying sustainable pork shouldn’t involve breaking the piggy bank.A couple of years ago at a farmers market, a woman approached my stall, a little apprehensively. She looked old and beaten down. Her face was weathered and worn. Her hands looked rough and gritty. But, it was clear that she was younger than she looked. Her […]
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Bob Herbert’s savvy advocacy for better infrastructure will be missed
Bob Herbert.Photo: Damon Winter/The New York TimesCross-posted from New Deal 2.0. Dear Mr. Herbert, I was sad to hear that you will no longer be writing for the op-ed page of the New York Times. Your critical perspective on the class war being waged against the middle and working class and the poor, on the waste […]
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Is Germany’s nuke shutdown a Pyrrhic victory for climate hawks?
Germany’s Green party staked its historic win on promises to accelerate the shutdown of the country’s remaining nuclear reactors. But Europe’s energy commissioner says their plans will only lead to more coal-fired power. Guenther Oettinger — who may have his own ax to grind, as he is also a “former premier of the Baden-Wuerttemberg state […]
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Reactor 2 at Japan’s Fukushima plant in full meltdown, says expert
The radioactive core of the second reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant appears to have melted through the its steel casing, and is now pooling on the concrete floor below, Richard Lahey tells The Guardian. (Lahey is former head of safety research for boiling-water nuclear reactors at General Electric, so he would probably know.)
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Americans worry less about climate change than drinking water, rainforests or sprawl
The good news is that 75 percent of Americans are worried about air and water pollution, and a majority are concerned about the extinction of plants and animals. The bad news is that Americans are less worried about all things related to the environment than they were 10 years ago. Oh, and for anyone who's […]
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America falls to third place in global race for clean energy
Globally, clean energy investment and finance reached $243 million in 2010, up 630 percent from 2004 and 30 percent from 2009. Germany experienced a 100 percent increase in investment, to $41.2 billion, trouncing the U.S., which came in at $34 billion despite having nearly four times the population of Germany. China, of course, was number […]
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Einsteinium on the Beach: Japan’s nuke crisis spreads to ocean
Plutonium* has escaped the fuel rods in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and has now been found on the beach adjacent. Workers are struggling to keep radioactive wastewater from reaching the ocean, where radiation has already begun to spread. Rumor has it that the Japanese government is so frustrated with the performance of TEPCO, […]
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World’s cities are the ‘battleground’ in fight against climate change
Or, the other option.The world’s cities are going to have to move aggressively to curb their greenhouse-gas emissions, or the whole planet is going to pay for it. That’s the word in a new report from the United Nations Human Settlement Program, or UN-HABITAT. The report is called “Hot Cities: Battle-Ground for Climate Change,” (you […]
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Alexis Madrigal chats about boom-and-bust fossil fuels and the promise of cheap electricity
This is the second in a series from my conversation with Atlantic tech channel editor Alexis Madrigal about themes and stories from his new book, Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology. You can read part one here. DR: Earlier you mentioned technological momentum. But in a lot of these episodes [from […]
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New Jersey leads U.S. in Superfund sites, spray tan and … solar power?
Jersey’s not all gym, tan, laundry. It’s also got more photovoltaic solar power capacity than any state except California (which is 19 times bigger). Even with a small square mileage, wishy-washy East Coast sun, and reality-show meatheads hogging the rays, Jersey’s managing to shore (ha) up its economy with solar — the state has more […]
