Latest Articles

Must-read: urban farmer Will Allen in the NYT Magazine

Will makes soil–and you can, too.Source: The New York TimesAnyone who wants to understand the paradoxes and promise of urban agriculture must read the luminous profile of Growing Power’s Will Allen by Elizabeth Royte, online now and forthcoming in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. I could gush about the elegance of Allen’s farming system or […]

Poverty near the “high hazard” coal ash sites

This is the weekly post from Bruce Nilles, director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. The public’s right-to-know scored a victory this week when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally released the list of the 44 coal ash sites deemed “high hazard.” This comes two weeks after a coalition of organizations including the Sierra Club […]

Bo Webb to Al Gore: come to Ground Zero in climate battle

Note: This is a guest post by Bo Webb, a Vietnam veteran and former businessman in the Coal River Valley, West Virginia, who has been one of the lead organizers in stopping mountaintop removal strip-mining. Webb received notice last week that mountaintop removal operations in Clay’s Branch, directly above his home, will resume, despite regulatory […]

As GOP politicians take the school-lunch debate to new lows, perk up with berry ice cream

Stick a spork in it: Is this really the best we can do?Photo: bookgrlA few years ago I was asked to serve on the Wellness Committee that was being formed by the Iowa City School District, under a federal mandate to improve the health of school children. Having made lunch every morning for my kids […]

Conservative activists wage war on Republicans who voted for climate bill

Conservative opponents of the Waxman-Markey bill are targeting the eight Republicans who voted for it in the House. The bill would not have passed without their support.Leo Alberti via michellemalkin.com.Republican House members who provided the margin of victory in last week’s narrow passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act are taking heat from […]

Fourth of July musings on symbols, patriotism, and identity

Sketches of ideas for the JP Green House exterior all include banners, signs, and flags at our request. This reflects our plan to unearth the former corner store that used to be housed in the “flatiron” triangular building. It’s also a means of advertising our demonstration project and a good fit with our civic purpose, […]

Et tu, Al? Franken gulps the ethanol-spiked Kool-Aid

“I’ve looked at this a lot, and it seems to me that ethanol already helps our carbon footprint and it’s only getting more efficient in the way it’s produced. Corn ethanol is a step on the way to cellulosic ethanol, which is also going to benefit Minnesota. I’m in the pro-ethanol camp.”— Sen. (elect) Al […]

47 groups urge Obama to endorse 2-degree C warming threshold

A coalition of 47 environment, science, and faith-based groups have sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to pursue a goal of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees Celcius in upcoming international meetings. “Failure to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius will have the greatest impact on the most vulnerable nations […]

Autos, smart grid and clean tech: DOE turns on the money

Last week the Department of Energy released part of the $25 billion in loans provided for through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, included in Section 136 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The delay in releasing these funds had been one of the longest running scandals in clean tech policy. […]

The WaPo serves up a food-politics column

Ezra KleinLindsay Beyerstein“Edible Media” takes an occasional look at interesting or deplorable food journalism on the web. Welcome to the table, Ezra Klein When I first started writing about food politics in 2005, the topic area was highly stratified–and still a little obscure. There was Eric Schlosser’s groundbreaking Fast Food Nation (2001) illuminating the topic […]