Latest Articles

Obama Ends 150-Year War of Strip-Mining in 24 States!

Obama Ends 150-Year War of Strip-Mining in 24 States: Mountaintop Removal Loses Its Groove. Yeah, I’ve been wanting to wake up to that headline for years, too. Instead, I read another Coal Tattoo headline about President Obama genuflecting in front of Big Coal. But don’t be fooled on April 1st today: Mountaintop removal, the process of blowing […]

What to make of the Pollan/Schlosser agreement with Wendy’s?

UPDATE: Happy April Fools’ Day! As a food politics commenter, I get paid to have strong opinions on the issues of the day. This ass will be eating grass?racineur via FlickrBut this one’s got me flummoxed. First, fast-food giant Wendy’s rolls out its new “pasture on a bun” burger, made with “100% grass-fed beef.” That […]

McDonald’s scraps composting program because food won’t decompose [April Fools]

A McDonald’s composting initiative is going to the dump.Photo: bhamsandwich via Flickr UPDATE: Happy April Fools’ Day! We’ve pulled your leg. Look who else is laughing: McDonald’s on Twitter. McDonald’s announced this morning that it would discontinue plans for a worldwide composting initiative after scientists confirmed that no item on the McDonald’s menu is compostable. […]

Ask Umbra on aluminum cans, the climate bill, and bathroom burdens

Send your question to Umbra! UPDATE: Happy April Fools’ Day! Q. Dear Umbra, I just finished drinking a soda—actually, I still have a sip or two left but wanted to go ahead and email you, so I’d have an answer by the time I finish it. What should I do when the can is empty? […]

Senate climate bill to fund Utah tar sands development

The Senate — when does it not leave widespread devastation in its path? UPDATE: Happy April Fools’ Day! The climate bill being developed by Sens. Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman will reportedly raise taxes on gasoline in lieu of putting oil refineries under a cap-and-trade system. This has led to a great deal of speculation about […]

New Jersey to put ex-strippers to work weatherizing homes

The WeatherStrippers are good with caulk.Foxtongue via Creative Commons UPDATE: Happy April Fools’ Day! The Garden State’s new jobs program, cheekily dubbed “WeatherStrippers,” will utilize Recovery Act funds to create an estimated 450 jobs while also reducing low-income residents’ energy bills through electricity savings. The WeatherStrippers will seek to put caulking guns in the hands […]

April Fools' Day, suckas!

Why you should be afraid of huge cow manure bubbles

Jessica Mullen via FlickrBecause if they explode (or are intentionally popped by dairy-bubble party poopers), you could be shit-out-of-muck, like this Indiana farmer. His dairy operation’s waste management system is suffering from indigestion the size of small houses. And while he plans to Pepto-Bismol the situation with a gas mask, a boat, and a pocket […]

In praise of the sandwich-shop trend

Simply delicious: the sandwich trend takes flight at Butcher in New Orleans.Photo courtesy Jason Perlow, via Flickr. In the late 1990s, if you wanted to go out for a skillfully cooked meal made from top-quality local/organic ingredients, you pretty much had to find to a cutting-edge white-tablecloth restaurant: say, Berkeley’s Chez Panisse or Manhattan’s Savoy. […]

How offshore drilling will affect the Alaskan wilderness

First let me set the scene. Alaska’s Arctic Ocean is vast, even as oceans go. During the summer months, Arctic waters lap up against pebble-lined shores for miles along endless miles. In the winter, that water stops lapping because it turns into ice that is so beautiful and important to the Inupiat Eskimo people, who […]