Latest Articles
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People said stuff, reports New York Times’ John Broder
[See update at bottom.] Steve on climate change: “Just givitame straight!” In New York City last week, I found myself in a cab driven by a burly, jovial local named Steve. He’s a jazz bassist and a vegetarian who recycles and composts, but is conservative in his politics, distrustful of government and anything associated with […]
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75 percent of NPR ‘clean energy’ panel has cashed polluter paychecks
You don’t have to been on Big Oil’s payroll to be on National Public Radio’s (NPR) clean energy panel, but it sure helps! I got a chance to watch the taping of this week’s Intelligence Squared debate on clean energy, to air on NPR. The debate’s sponsors sent up red flags right away: The American […]
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What if you updated your electronics like you update your wardrobe?
Photo: George MacklinDesigner and TED fellow Dominic Muren wants you to update your electronics like you update your wardrobe. In other words, he thinks you should be able to replace or update only what gets worn out, instead of tossing and re-purchasing everything you own at one whack just because one part is busted or […]
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Why world food prices may keep climbing
Click for a larger version.In February, world food prices reached the highest level on record. Soaring food prices are already a source of spreading hunger and political unrest, and it appears likely that they will climb further in the months ahead. As a result of an extraordinarily tight grain situation, this year’s harvest will be […]
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James Howard Kunstler: The old American dream is a nightmare
Photo: Charlie SamuelsThe Great Depression gave rise to hobos and Hoovervilles. The Roaring Nineties brought us what New York Times columnist David Brooks termed “bobos in paradise.” Now our current round of layoffs and foreclosures has unceremoniously transferred millions of folks from the “affluent” to the “afflicted” category, exiling them from Brooks’s mythical exurban Eden. […]
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Teaching kids to make ice cream — with snow [VIDEO]
This video has a lot going for it: cute kids, a grass-fed dairy farm, backyard chickens, and — most compelling of all — a recipe for ice cream. But there’s an added gimmick: this isn’t ordinary ice cream — it was made with snow, not some fancy kitchen device. So watch the video and, while […]
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The real scandal of ‘reduced-fat Skippy peanut butter spread’ isn’t the salmonella
Just say no.Photo: Bill CorCorrected: See below. —— Skippy, a brand owned by European food giant Unilever, has issued a recall of its “reduced fat” peanut butter products. Evidently, they have become tainted with salmonella — an unhappy echo of the widespread 2009 salmonella outbreak from salmonella-tainted “peanut paste.” But the real scandal with Skippy® […]
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How to advance climate change & clean energy action at Rio+20 Earth Summit
The world’s leaders will be meeting June 4-6, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. This Summit is an important opportunity to advance concrete action on global warming. Countries, companies, state and local governments, and civil society groups should be expected to come to Rio prepared to strengthen the implementation of their […]
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More drilling won’t help
We have a problem we can’t drill our way out of.Photo: arbyreedCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. Unrest in Libya and Egypt is driving up oil prices, stirring concerns that gasoline could hit $5 a gallon by summer. Like a smoker’s persistent cough, it’s another warning to change our ways. America sends nearly $1 billion […]
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Homeland Security Chairman Peter King ignores poison gas disaster threat to New York City
Congressman Peter King (R-NY), the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, faced protests from hundreds of New Yorkers and interfaith leaders this weekend over his plans to single out Muslim communities in upcoming Congressional hearings. While Rep. King seeks to look tough on terrorism by scapegoating people for their religious beliefs, last week he showed […]
