Latest Articles

Cafés will be popping up on the streets of New York

The New York City Department of Transportation is going to make it easier for you to park your rear end at a sidewalk café by taking away a bit of parking for cars.

Enough about me: What do you think about me?

There’s an unbelievable ad for Columbia’s School of General Studies in the latest New Yorker magazine. It starts with the header: “I had a hunch there was more to it.” Then, there’s a note written on lined paper: “My life has been one of proud accomplishments — from my success as a business owner on […]

If you want a model city, fix the one you've got

Cities achieve greatness because they are containers for difference -- places where people and ideas bump into each other, where assumptions are constantly challenged, where classes and attitudes rub shoulders and jostle each other. So how do we make cities smarter (in the sustainability sense) without building a world of sterile municipalities from the ground up?

Annie Leonard's 'Story of Electronics' tells how our gadgets are 'designed for the dump' [VIDEO]

My newfound obsession with where my tech gadgets come from just got stoked by a new video -- which I watched on a tech gadget. You should, too.

Old King Coal's on a merry old roll

Don't be fooled by the whining that the Obama administration is on the verge of wiping out the coal industry. Big coal is as powerful as ever.

The fast-food industry’s $4.2 billion marketing blitz

Yale's Rudd Center reports that the fast-food industry spent $4.2 billion on marketing last year. That's a sign of the industry's robust financial health -- and bad news for the public's health.

A question for James Fallows about coal and focus

I waded into "Dirty Coal, Clean Future," James Fallows' new cover piece for The Atlantic, prepared to be outraged, what with coal being the enemy of the human race and all. But it turns out to be an incredibly cogent, accessible walk through some extremely vexed issues. Still I can't help wonder why he put the focus on coal's necessity rather than its evil.

Feeding the world means hogging less grain

How many people can the Earth support? Depends on their level of food consumption. At the U.S. average of 1,763 pounds of grain per person annually for food and feed, the 2-billion-ton annual world harvest would feed just 2.5 billion people.

Anti-advertising billboard showcases the clean air around it

This billboard is highlighting the good job done by the Clean Air Act while also giving instant weather updates.

Home Energy Score could be a much-needed MPG for houses

The score gives a simple 1-10 rating of a home's energy performance and then -- this is the exciting part! -- a higher score owners might achieve if they take recommended steps like adding insulation, installing a programmable thermostat, shutting down the steel refinery in their basement, etc. So a home might achieve a 6 and have an expected upgraded score of 8.