Latest Articles

Reversing roles, farmers sue Monsanto over GMO seeds

Genetically modified seed giant Monsanto is notorious for suing farmers [PDF] in defense of its patent claims. But now, a group of dozens of organic farmers and food activists have, with the help of the not-for-profit law center The Public Patent Foundation, sued Monsanto in a case that could forever alter the way genetically modified […]

White House scuttles rumors it will torpedo EPA regulations

Yesterday, we repeated an Associated Press report which said that President Obama was banding with the GOP to force the EPA to walk the plank — or, well, looking to compromise with the GOP by curtailing EPA's regulatory powers as part of budget negotiations. Shows what we get for trusting the AP. The White House […]

Solar could save Minnesota schools millions

This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Currently, Minnesota’s public schools spend approximately $84 million per year on electricity costs, money diverted from the classroom. But a bill to make clean, local energy accessible now (CLEAN) could help the state’s public schools use […]

Internationally linking carbon trading systems is the wave of the future

The latest rage in Washington policy discussions these days (that’s relevant to climate change) is renewed interest in renewable electricity standards, this time in the form of so-called “clean energy standards.” I’ve written about this policy approach recently and will do so again in the near future, but for today I want to turn to […]

U.K. guv takes threat of bee-killing pesticides seriously. Why doesn’t the U.S.?

Remember neonicotinoids? They’re the widely used class of pesticides that an increasing body of evidence — including from USDA researchers — implicates in the collapse of honeybee populations. Neonicotinoids are marketed by the agrichemical giant Bayer, which reels in about $800 million in sales from them each year. Germany (Bayer’s home country), France, and Slovenia […]

Me, on TV, talking Obama’s energy plan [VIDEO]

Yesterday I appeared on The Alonya Show, a political talk show on the RT (previously Russia Today) global news network, talking about Obama’s new energy plan: If I’d known I was going to be on TV, I might have showered. And put on a decent shirt. And shrunk my enormous head. One thing I’d add: […]

PETA wants to change ‘Tenderloin’ to ‘Tempeh District’

Is PETA a day early for April Fool’s, or have they simply whizzed past the point of self-parody? The group’s executive vice president has petitioned San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee to change the name of the city’s historic Tenderloin area to something that doesn’t glamorize meat. Of course, the Tenderloin isn’t actually named after a […]

The nuts were right — airplane contrails WILL kill you

Wow, Fortean Times was right about something: Airplane contrails really are dangerous. The carbon emissions from air travel are profound, but the water vapor planes emit is just as bad, or worse. And airplane-spawned water vapor is what makes up the high, thin clouds known as contrails. Michele Bachmann would surely object — water vapor […]

Hot-and-cold running crisis: cities, water, and climate change

Woman carrying water through the Dharavi slum of Mumbai.Photo: Meena KadriCross-posted from Cool Green Science. Imagine living on less than a bathtub of water for all your daily needs: drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes … and everything else. By 2050, more than 1 billion city dwellers may be doing just that if we don’t build […]

California goes balls to the wall on renewables

As of 2020, California will be getting fully one third of its energy from renewable sources. So says a bill passed yesterday by the state assembly. It's a "renewable portfolio standard" so aggro that it makes a WWE elbow drop to the throat look like a tiddlywinks match played by pink cloud-people in a straight-to-DVD […]