Latest Articles

California poised to approve deadly pesticide for strawberry crop

The continuing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico helps one see other regulatory controversies in a different light. Take, for example, the battle in California over the use of the pesticide methyl iodide, a chemical so toxic, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “that even chemists are reluctant to handle it.” Methyl iodide, which according […]

Louisianans take a break from oil-spill angst to celebrate local seafood

Seafood abounds at the Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival.Photos: Emily PetersonThe sixth annual Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival, held this past weekend, had the usual fixings one would expect at a South Louisiana festival: fried seafood, a solid lineup of live local music, and plenty of cold beer to beat the high humidity and 90-degree temperatures. One […]

Leaving biodiesel Shangri-La for a farm amidst suburbia

January 2011 update: Many of the photos have been removed from this series so they can be published in a Breaking Through Concrete book, forthcoming this year from UC Press. By David Hanson A grease bus breaking down in Berkeley is like having a Mac glitch at Steve Jobs’ house during the Apple Chirstmas party. […]

Does the Senate climate bill “gut” the Clean Air Act?

Zombie senators will gut your laws and eat your brains!kzamani via Flickr Creative CommonsDoes the Senate climate bill tie the EPA’s hands? You increasingly hear from progressives that the American Power Act — the energy and climate bill introduced by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) — “guts” the Clean Air Act. Some […]

‘Sex and the City 2’ is the greenest movie of the year

Forget earnest documentaries about corporatized food and natural-gas fracking and climate refugees.  The greenest movie of 2010 chronicles the latest exploits of none other than Carrie Bradshaw. Yes, even though she’s a clotheshorse who once calculated she’d spent $40,000 on shoes.  Even though, in the latest installment of the blockbuster franchise, Carrie and her trio […]

Tracking surface water on a warming planet

Keith Cherkauer studies mud. It’s a dirty business that has revealed a lot about global warming. As he trudged through rural Indiana farmland earlier this spring, Cherkauer, an agricultural and biological engineer at Purdue University, paid close attention to the way his boots sank more than an inch into the mud before they reached the […]

10 ways cities and towns can kick the offshore-oil habit

With the Gulf oil spill continuing unabated, powering a 21st century economy on a 19th century fossil fuel looks less and less smart by the day. Luckily, we’ve got other options. I described the most promising steps the federal government could take toward reducing oil use in transportation systems last week. But local governments don’t […]

Black BP out of the web like BP blacked out the Gulf of Mexico

If you’re feeling outraged but impotent about the effect of the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico, the internet (or some paint and an ad poster) can offer a little catharsis. Web developer jess3 has created a Firefox plugin which splashes a bit of oil on every mention of BP on the web. Once […]

Thoughts on Pollan’s food-movement essay

I want to add a few thoughts on the significance of Michael Pollan’s recent essay in The New York Review of Books to Bonnie Powell’s summary.  Pollan posits the existence of a social movement geared to transforming the food system. He emphasizes that it’s loose, internally conflicted, and nascent — but all the same, “one […]

Ask Umbra on 8 things you can do to fight the Gulf oil spill

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, This oil spill has really gotten me down. Countless millions of gallons flowing into the beautiful Gulf of Mexico and no end in sight. The leak just keeps on leaking. I hate to admit this, but I’m feeling helpless and a bit hopeless. I’m not a big […]