Latest Articles

The Climate Post: Congress Returns, Teen Saves World

The Climate Post is a weekly roundup of climate news, produced by the The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University.   First Things First: When we last left our Senate, Barbara Boxer suggested a bill, similar to the one that the House passed in June, would be ready for the Environment and […]

Climate change policy as prescription for British health care?

Will tackling climate change make us healthier — and save the NHS? Since Michael Moore pumped up Britain’s National Health Service in Sicko, there’s been a fair amount of debate on both sides of the Atlantic as to whether this iconic brand represents a model for other health-care systems in the world, or an unsustainable […]

Nationwide “eat-ins” show way to a revived National School Lunch Program

Chowing down for better school lunches in Iowa City.Photo: Kurt Michael FrieseAll across the country this past Labor Day, folks gathered for picnics. That’s no surprise, of course. After all, it was a holiday, and the weather was grand across nearly the whole continent. But there was something unique about one group of picnics; 307 […]

Health-care reform through green-colored glasses

President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress Wednesday nightWhitehouse.gov With a summer of incendiary rhetoric and fabricated charges by the right-wing dominating the media headlines, President Obama took to the bully pulpit to sell his plan for what is now being called “Health Insurance Reform” rather than health care reform. President Obama and […]

Japan election a shot in the arm for climate talks

The change in governments in Japan could make Yvo de Boer’s job of shepherding a new climate deal easier.World Economic Forum via Flickr“If we continue at this rate we are not going to make it,” concluded a grim-faced Yvo de Boer at the end of the latest session of international climate talks in Bonn last […]

Wheego joins the ranks of electric car startups

Wheego is an Atlanta-based startup that plans to enter the electric car market with its Whip.Photo: Todd WoodyA traffic jam is developing on the electric highway. A decade after General Motors killed the electric car, big automakers and startups are revving up to put battery-powered vehicles on the road over the next couple of years. […]

A moment of truth for Appalachia, Obama and EPA on mountaintop removal coal mining

A moment of truth has arrived for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and President Barack Obama, who has promised “unprecedented steps” to rein in the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining that is wrecking havoc across wide swaths of Appalachian mountains, valleys and communities. Anti-mountaintop removal activists are hoping President Obama and EPA […]

On eve of Senate showdown and COP15, the climate movement locks in

Photo: 1SkyAside from all the immense negatives, the recent Van Jones character assassination has done one very important thing for the climate movement: catalyzed our passionate opposition to dirty energy and politics as usual, while cementing our determination to achieve clean energy solutions this fall.   It’s as if you can hear the collective fist-clenching of […]

Dominoes Keep Falling for Clean Coal Coalition

Only a week after the nation’s third largest utility, Duke Energy, announced it was terminating its membership in the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), citing disagreement over clean energy legislation, another company has followed suit. Alstom Power is joining Duke for similar reasons. From the NY Times/Greenwire article: Alstom Power, a French company […]

Growing hope and fighting hunger on the Gaza Strip

Gaza gardeners, with harvest.Photo: Grassroots InternationalThis is the time of year when gardeners start to reap their rewards–fruits and vegetables that make for a healthy feast. But for the people of Gaza, gardens produce a serving of self-sufficiency, too. Urban gardens usually bring to mind savvy urbanites indulging in an organic lifestyle–witness Michelle Obama and […]