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Labor teams up with enviros to pass climate bill and promote green jobs

After working for the United Steelworkers International Union for 30 years, Lauren Horne left in January to take on a new role within the labor movement — rallying union members to help fight climate change. Union members call for a cleaner, greener economy.Photo: Step It UpHorne, a Pittsburgh native, is now coordinating an education campaign […]

Ask Umbra on food disposal

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I’ve been trying to convince a friend to compost her food waste, now that she has a back yard. She claims that she plans to do so, but in the meantime, she’s sending all her food through the garbage disposal and says that it’s just as good, […]

House GOP unveils energy bill heavy on fossil fuels and nuclear power

Reps. Darrell Issa (left), John Boehner, and Mike Pence introduce the American Energy Act.Photo: Republican ConferenceHouse Republicans have rolled out their own energy plan, the American Energy Act, intended to compete with the American Clean Energy and Security Act put forward by Democrats. Like the energy bill they released last year, Republicans are calling this […]

How to get involved in the fight against climate change

Wondering what you can do? These groups have climate campaigns and info galore — check out their sites, connect with them on social networks, and get involved!   Climate-focused groups   350.org A grassroots group led by author Bill McKibben and born out of the belief that climate change needs a robust social movement behind […]

Fixing food isn’t only about agriculture. Just ask Europe.

Michael Pollan spoke to Newsweek about the new documentary on our industrial food system Food, Inc. In his comments, he made some crucial points about differences between US and Europe that go beyond “food culture”: [T]hey have a better safety net [in Europe]. You can afford to spend 15 to 17 percent of your income […]

Population: Off the radar, not off the map

“The main driving forces of future greenhouse gas trajectories will continue to be demographic change, social and economic development, and the rate and direction of technological change,” according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Two of these drivers – development and technology – have been the focus of a […]

Clean-tech and urban renewal in one fell swoop

Clearer skies ahead for Holyoke?Leslie Adams via flickrTo say that Holyoke, Mass., has seen better days would put you squarely in the running for Understatement of the Year. One of the poorest cities in the state, it is the sort of post-Industrial town that is scattered across New England: crumbling smokestacks, shuttered mills, “modern” housing […]

Hot new clean-tech startups are plug-and-play

You gotta be crazy to start a green-tech company these days, right? Venture funding has fallen off the proverbial cliff since the economy imploded last September, and even established renewable energy companies are struggling to stay afloat until the Obama stimulus cash begins to flow. But it seemed more 1999 than 2009 this week at […]

A tour through Indian energy projects suggests small is beautiful

A local irrigation project in southern India.Courtesy Michael Foley Photography via FlickrGeorge Black has a fascinating story about how India might lift its people out of poverty without torching the environment in the current issue of OnEarth, the magazine run by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Written largely as a travelogue through clean energy innovations […]

Climate-news poem: mustache edition

iwona_kellie via flickrThis time around we start off with a great big phony pactThat came from several green groups who just felt they had to act.A powerful indictment and a plan for moving on, The “Copenhagen treaty” met with no more than a yawn. Was that too rude, to write them off, to say the […]