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Urbivore's Dilemma, Week 19: Fresh bok choy and Chinese take-out

If old habits die hard, then old eating habits die harder, and include the power of rising from the dead. Two weeks ago, the bok choy I received revived some old habits.

Why public transportation is good for kids

It's become part of the collective American belief system that cars are the preferred (if not the only acceptable) mode of transportation for our children. But my family is taking the road less traveled by.

Expect a nuclear boost if Reid loses Senate seat

A loss by Harry Reid in the Nevada Senate race could clear the way for Republicans to make nuclear a centerpiece of any renewable energy plan.

Ask Umbra addresses environmental links to breast cancer

Breast Cancer Awareness Month may be over now, but that doesn't keep a reader from worrying that he's a boob for not knowing more about the connection between breast cancer and environmental factors. Ask Umbra gets a lot of useful information off her chest about what chemicals to avoid and how to take a stand for toxic chemicals reform. Read this and your cup of knowledge shall run over.

Biofuels Reduce The Biosphere's Capacity to Absorb Carbon

Crossposted from the Biodiversivist blog Brace yourselves for another thought exercise. Tim Searchinger is a researcher who has been published in the prestigious journal Science at least five separate times by my count. His, in hindsight, rather obvious, common sense observations have become a serious thorn in the side of the biofuel industry. He was […]

Michelle Goldberg on the globalized culture war over reproductive rights [VIDEO]

Michelle Goldberg, author of "The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World," talks about women's rights, abortion, & population.

Man out to prove potatoes aren't junk food eats nothing but potatoes for two months

Man cannot live on bread alone, but can he live on nothing but potatoes? The chief of the Washington State Potato Commission is finding out firsthand by eating nothing but 20 potatoes a day for two months. [BONUS: Watch him make mashed potatoes with a potato gun!]

Nutritionist Marion Nestle fingers the missing calories in America's big binge

America, ever obsessed with diet and health, is stumped by the problem of obesity. Figuring out what to eat really isn't that hard, says author and food systems researcher Marion Nestle. If this basic human instinct seems more complicated than that, it's the effect of food marketing.

Evangelical climate hawk learns hard knocks in House race

Ben Lowe (D) is a 25-year-old first-time candidate getting whomped in a suburban Chicago congressional race. He's also an intriguing candidate, coming from an evangelical bastion and running on clean energy, compassionate immigration reform, "restraint in military spending," and scrubbing corporate money from politics.

Chipotle rolls out some scare tactics for Halloween

This Halloween, Chipotle is inviting you to scare them -- for a very good cause. The chain is raising money for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution campaign. All you have to do is dress up as an edible foodlike substance and buy a $2 burrito.