Latest Articles
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Ask Umbra on flatulence and climate change
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, The other day I was sitting on the couch after a day of eating an onion-rich diet and wondered … how much impact can a person have on climate change by avoiding flatulence-producing foods? Resourcefully yours,Rob D. Troubled by your bubbles?A. Dearest Rob, I appreciate your desire […]
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How the 'peaceful atom' became a serial killer
Replacing coal and oil with nuclear power is like trading heroin for crack.
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Debunking myths about free-market environmentalism
Money makes the world go … green?Cross-posted at The PERColator, a project of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). A recent post on Grist attempted to dismantle the intellectual foundations of free-market environmentalism — the application of markets and property rights to solve environmental problems. But far from toppling a burgeoning movement within modern […]
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Achtung! German Motorists Boycott Ethanol
The German government’s plan to follow our lead and force a ten percent blend of ethanol down its citizen’s throats has hit a snag. Unlike here in the States, German consumers can choose to buy gasoline without ethanol in it. So, that’s what they’re doing even though it costs more! I took the above photo […]
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Why Car Drivers with a Clue Support Bicycle Infrastructure
Photo courtesy of therozblog via Flickr Imagine what it would feel like to accidentally maim, cripple for life, or kill a bicyclist (daughter, wife, mom, son, husband, dad, teenager or kid) with your car, regardless of who got the traffic ticket. On top of that guilt, imagine the potential for an emotionally and financially devastating […]
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The Great Brain Robbery and the Seattle Pee Patch
The neighborhood dogs use my daughter’s vegetable garden as a communal toilet. You can’t blame them really. The garden is right next to the sidewalk and they are just dogs. I suppose you could blame the dog owners holding the leash. But, are my dog-walking neighbors really that obtuse or are they victims of the […]
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Nissan Leaf, meet Ford Pinto
There were two interesting cars parked on my street this week. One was a Nissan Leaf (see my test drive video here). The other was a Ford Pinto. The Pinto was one of the forerunners of today’s small hatchbacks. It had bucket seats with a hand brake between them, a back seat that folded down, […]
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How wiring the developing world can help save the planet
Envaya helps people in Africa build ultralight websites, on the ultracheap.Like most equatorial countries, Tanzania is feeling the impacts of climate change. Malaria is spreading to areas at ever-higher altitudes. Lake Victoria, which feeds the Nile, is retreating. The rainy season is starting later and getting shorter — last year, the typically four-month season lasted […]
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Is MTV the best method of teen birth control?
Believe it or not, MTV appears to be inspiring teenagers to avoid pregnancy — yes, the very same network that glamorizes not just rap and rock ‘n’ roll but sex, drugs, and debauchery. In 2009, MTV launched the documentary series 16 and Pregnant, which shows the gritty reality of life as a young expectant parent. […]
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Organic farming just as productive as conventional, and better at building soil, Rodale finds
Organic agriculture is a fine luxury for the rich, but it could never feed the world as global population moves to 9 billion. That’s what a lot of powerful people — including the editors of The Economist — insist. But the truth could well be the opposite: It might be chemical-intensive agriculture that’s the frivolous […]
