Latest Articles
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Florida lawmaker wants to make farm photos illegal
If we just don’t look at what’s going on inside factory farms, everything will be fine. Right? Along with mountains of oranges, tomatoes, and sugar, Florida’s branch of Big Ag Inc. is a reliable producer of bad news. Whether it’s the fight over proto-slavery conditions for its tomato workers, the push to perfect genetically modified […]
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Why companies don’t care about climate change
Businesses would be more interested in saving trees if money grew on them.Cross-posted from TriplePundit. In 2009, I cofounded a company called CO2 IMPACT to develop high quality carbon offset projects in the Americas. While I have a Ph.D. in business, I have frequently been too focused on my values to justify the business case […]
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Why climate change is now irrelevant to clean energy
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Arial} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #1f0199} Clean energy isn’t about climate change any more, it’s about China. So says cleantech investor Alex Taussig. That’s his takeaway from last week’s summit of ARPA-E, the government agency tasked with funding energy innovations so crazy or with such far-off payouts […]
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Farming is the new hipster occupation of choice
Twentysomethings don’t know what to do with their lives. Industrial food can’t be trusted. The public image of farmers is (slowly) improving — but the average age is going up and up. These are perfect conditions for a new generation of farmers, people in their 20s and 30s who are starting small farms and joining […]
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EPA puts off long-promised coal ash protections
(This post originally appeared at Facing South.) Communities imperiled by poorly managed coal ash won’t be getting help from the federal government any time soon. The Obama administration announced last week that it would not issue long-awaited federal regulations this year after all. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson shared the news in a March […]
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Seven ways to live in a small space with kids and not go crazy
Whee! Living small is fun!Photo: Anna MSo you want to raise your family in a city but can’t afford much square footage? Never fear. Despite the challenges, it’s possible to live in a small space — with kids — without sacrificing your sanity. First, let’s define small, since our idea of an acceptable amount of […]
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Politics aside, you really DO want to move to Canada
Get used to this image.Photo: Anka KayPoliteness, Kate Beaton, and relative social progressivism are just gravy on the poutine of Canada’s superiority. Here’s the fries and curds: As global warming worsens, Canada may become the world’s wealthiest country. A short list of areas outside of “moose density” where Canada’s primed to dominate: Food security. New […]
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China’s scrap metal workers are human recycling machines
A worker at a motor scrap recycling plantPhoto: Adam Minter Cheap, un-unionized, un-regulated labor helps the environment in the U.S. and China, argues Adam Minter, a journalist who has been chronicling the “engine breakers” of Shanghai. China’s human-powered recycling plants break down and sift through junked cars and other scrap metal, searching for valuable reusable […]
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Ask Umbra on refillable cleaning supplies
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I’m trying to cut back on plastic waste and am wondering if you know of places that offer things like cleaning supplies in bulk, so that I can refill and reuse my old containers? Thanks!Lyda L.Harlem, NY A bottle walks into a bar and asks for a […]
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The collapse of the old oil order
No matter what comes of the protests in Iran, it’s unlikely that the country’s oil output will rise significantly.Photo: Hamed SaberThis essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. Whatever the outcome of the protests, uprisings, and rebellions now sweeping the Middle East, one thing is guaranteed: The world […]
