Latest Articles

Why are women being left out of climate decision-making?

When will we finally break through this damn glass ceiling?U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced an important new climate change financing group last week, but out of the 19 people named, no women were included. This is unfortunate because women will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change and are key to any climate […]

Challenging conventional wisdom on renewable energy’s limits

In making the case for a rapid conversion away from heavily polluting energy sources like coal and nuclear power to cleaner generation, renewable energy advocates often confront the argument that their scheme is impossible due to the intermittent nature of sun and wind. But a groundbreaking study out of North Carolina challenges that conventional wisdom: […]

Ask Umbra on shoe polish, socially responsible investing, and Facebook

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I prefer to buy shoes that will last me a long time rather than buy lots of cheap ones that consume many resources. Is there an environmentally friendly shoe polish that I can use to keep my feet looking spiffy for the long haul? LaineWashington, D.C. A. […]

Community solar gardens

A new bill being considered in the Colorado legislature would create “solar gardens.” Solar gardens allow people to participate financially in owning part of a solar array even if they do not have a suitable site on their own property. My reading of the proposed legislation is that subscriptions in a solar garden would be […]

Is ‘Birdemic’ the best/worst apocalyptic thriller of all time?

If it weren’t for some seriously nom-nom-y green Oscar noms, I’d be either A.) extremely embarrassed or B.) extremely pumped about the future of enviro films after watching the trailer for “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” Or both. What do you have to dread look forward to if you catch this latest internet fever? “Woefully inept […]

Modern modular done right

Photo: Treehugger A lot of lessons have been learned over the last decade as architects and manufacturers try to make modern green prefab affordable and accessible to a wider audience. A new entry into the market is Challenger, a modern architect-designed line of houses from Manitoba, Canada’s Conquest Manufacturing. They recently displayed a new model, […]

Tech startup’s pollution detector aids enviro justice group

If you had been driving through North Texas this week you might have seen a white Dodge Sprinter van circling some of the natural gas wells and compression stations that have sprung up around the Barnett Shale belt like boom-time subdivisions. Drillers tap natural gas by splitting shale through a process called hydraulic fracturing, or […]

Friday music blogging: Aloe Blacc

The new HBO show How to Make It In America is pretty good, but by far the best thing about it is the opening credit sequence. When I first saw it I thought it was soundtracked with a particularly righteous soul song from the ’70s, maybe a Bill Withers b-side dug out of the crates. […]

Why not structure climate bills to win popular support?

Mainstream environmentalists tackling the climate crisis prioritize pricing greenhouse gas emissions over alternative policies to cool our fevered planet. The ACES climate bill that passed the House would weaken renewable rules, add massive offsets, and kill much existing EPA authority to fight climate change. The “simple” Cantwell-Collins cap-and-dividend bill focuses on an auctioned permit system […]

Demolishing density in Detroit

Photo: Fast Company So it’s come to this: Unable to provide basic services for all of his constituents, Detroit mayor Dave Bing is drafting plans starve his city down to a manageable size. Using proprietary data and a survey released by Data Driven Detroit, Bing and his staff will pick “winners and losers” amongst the […]