Latest Articles
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White flight and the urban-suburban switcheroo
Suburban ChicagoCourtesy Scorpians and Centaurs via FlickrThe idea of racially diverse American cities ringed by mostly white suburbs is essentially flip-flopping, according to the Brookings Institution’s big new demographic report, “The State of Metropolitan America.” The report draws on 2002-2008 census data to find that young, educated whites are moving into cities in record numbers. […]
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The Yes Men send an intern to the Bolivia Climate Summit
Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum was in no shape for a trip to Bolivia, so a new guy made the trip.ScreengrabPrankster duo the The Yes Men sent an intern to the “people’s” climate summit in Bolivia last month, and he made a pretty entertaining video. The alternative conference, led by Bolivian President Evo Morales, skewed toward […]
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The farmstead creamery advisor is IN
Gianaclis Caldwell makes aged cheese from the milk of her Nigerian Dwarf goats. She lives in Oregon, on a 23-acre, off-the-grid farm. She has critically acclaimed cheeses, a whole lot to say about the business of making and selling your own cheese, and a new book called The Farmstead Creamery Advisor. And there’s never been […]
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Political fallout from the Gulf oil spill: Hill hearings, climate-bill questions, MMS reorg
Now it’s really starting to get ugly. Not in the Gulf of Mexico — that’s already borderline hideous — but in Washington. The top execs of the three partners in the toppled, leaking oil rig — BP, Transocean, and Halliburton — made their first public appearances before Congress today, and while they haven’t reached screaming-cats-in-a-bag […]
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Finding evidence of climate change in the caves of the American Southwest
Julia Cole finds evidence of the climate record in some fascinating places. Cole is a geologist at the University of Arizona. Most recently, her research has led her deep inside a limestone cave 50 miles southeast of Tucson. Preserved there, within stalagmites that have formed on the floor of the dark, perpetually humid cave, is […]
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Gulf oil spill and Florida politics
There’s been a lot of discussion about what the Gulf oilspill means for federal clean energy legislation. The same thing has been happening at the state level as well. Take Florida. The Florida Legislature has debated clean energy legislation in the last several sessions, and has come heartbreakingly close to passage several times, only to […]
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Ask Umbra’s Book Club: Live chat with author Anna Lappé
Editor’s note: The chat’s now over, but you can replay it in full. Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet:The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It, chats live with readers about the food system–climate change connection. Join the conversation!
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Support Southern seafood with this Vietnamese-style caramelized catfish dish
The addition of spring greens makes this Vietnamese-style caramelized catfish a complete meal.(April McGreger photos) Recently I visited my family in Mississippi, where I dodged tornadoes and lamented flooded fields of corn and soybeans and the many farmers who’ve gone bust. The one thing that distracted us from the immediate crises in the northern half […]
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Industrial meat comes with antibiotics and endocrine disruptors
A few years ago, scientists released one of the first studies to examine how diet can affect your exposure to toxic substances. In that case, researchers had a group of Seattle schoolchildren eat an organic diet for five days a week. Almost immediately, pesticide levels in the children’s bodies dropped to almost undetectable levels — […]
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Where things stand on the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill
The Kerry-Lieberman (nee Kerry-Graham-Lieberman) climate and clean-energy bill is set to be introduced on Wednesday. Given all the chaos that’s surrounded it for the last few weeks, it’s worth taking a step back and taking a broad look at the current political dynamic and the chances for a successful outcome. Here’s the one-sentence summary: Chances […]
