Latest Articles

‘Climategate’ scientists cleared of all charges by independent review

An exhaustive six-month independent review into the Climategate emails has concluded that the “rigor and honesty” of the climate scientists caught up in the non-scandal are “not in doubt.” [PDF] The investigation, led by Sir Muir Russell, found no grand conspiracy among scientists brainwashed by the U.N. IPCC and Al Gore to dominate the planet […]

Get drivers to slow down (and save fuel) by making it fun

From the people who brought you piano stairs comes an idea for getting more drivers to obey speed limits. “Fun theory award” winner Kevin Richardson suggests making it “fun” to drive the speed limit by entering lawful drivers in a lottery and awarding cash prizes to some. Money could come from fining speeders, although that […]

Arsenic found in Utah kids’ pee traced to their pet chickens’ feed

Backyard chickens: Fun for the entire family! That is, until your kids get arsenic poisoning from them. The Utah Department of Health tracked worrisome levels of arsenic in two kids’ urine to the family’s backyard chicken coop, reports Judy Fahys in the Salt Lake Tribune (hat tip to Cookie Jill). More specifically, to the arsenic-based […]

Oil found in Gulf food chain, salmon nastiness, Mexico woes, U.N. lauds sustainable ag

When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web. Get’em while they’re hot.BP oil infiltrates the Gulf’s food chain The inevitable has happened. From a McLatchy article: University scientists have spotted the first indications oil is entering the Gulf seafood chain — in crab larvae — […]

Treasury Department hits PACE homeowners

On Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency effectively shut down an innovative green financing program called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, by restricting the ability of homeowners to take out loans to install solar panels and make other energy efficiency improvements. Now the United States Treasury Department has piled on. A new Treasury directive […]

WTFood: McNuggets have a little too much in common with Silly Putty

Photo: fuxoft via FlickrDrooling over those food-like substances!Moms across the nation can breathe a collective sigh of relief every time their toddlers pop Silly Putty in their mouths with the news that that childhood mainstay is not completely unlike another one: McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets. As it turns out, these two amorphous items share the yummy-sounding […]

How hot is it? Hot enough to shave your cat?

How hot is it? Hot enough to shave your cat?Photo: Jennifer PredigerWelcome to summer. We’re having a heat wave here in the Northeast that’s breaking records. Some sizzling places recorded temps of 103 degrees F yesterday! And more of the same is expected today. The Big Apple is broiling. Four of the five boroughs of […]

Remember when the blizzards killed global warming?

Here in the crock pot they call the East Coast, local news stations are rolling out video from those days last February when we were all snow, all the time. But they keep leaving out the best part — clips showing some of our favorite rants about how two feet of snow proved proved global […]

Greening — and feeding — the city with a ‘garden block’

It looks like one of the main take-aways from the Congress for the New Urbanism 18 conference is something being labeled “agrarian urbanism.” Fast Company is calling it the “new new urbanism” and Treehugger has described the notion as the next phase in the evolution of this 30-year old movement. New Urbanism leader Andrés Duany, […]

With cap-and-trade on the ropes, what’s the next move for greens?

The final fate of the climate/energy bill is uncertain. There are signs Senate Democrats may yet try to advance a price on carbon, perhaps a limited system that only covers utilities, but it remains a heavy political lift. It’s a safe wager cap-and-trade won’t make it over the finish line. So let’s look ahead: What […]