Latest Articles

McCain spins concerns about nuclear safety as anti-troops

“By the way, the next time Senator Obama tells you that nuclear power has got to be made safe and environmental and all that, take him over to see one of our Navy ships with nuclear power plants on it, my friends. And ask the men and women who serve proudly on those nuclear powered […]

A point of no return as alarming as the tundra feedback

A new study in Nature Geoscience ($ub. req’d, abstract below) projects that “a warming of 4 degrees C causes a 40 percent loss of soil organic carbon from the shallow peat and 86 percent from the deep peat” of Northern peatlands. And that amplifying carbon cycle feedback is dangerous for three reasons: The northern peatlands […]

Old breeds, new ideas are helping small farms

I just returned from a 10 day photo assignment covering the efforts of Heifer Project — Poland to return heritage/locally-adapted breeds of chickens, geese, cattle, and pigs to small farmers struggling to keep a foothold in this changing country. These breeds in many cases are already making a difference. One of these, the Polish Red […]

Snippets from the news

• Payless launches eco-friendly shoe line. • Amtrak reports record annual ridership. • New Bible version has green theme. • GM and Chrysler talk merger. • Beijing’s new traffic rules don’t seem to make a difference. • Mexican marijuana cartels sully U.S. forests and parks.

Cause and defect

“How in the hell — heck — are you going to change it unless you know what caused it?” — Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, commenting on Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin’s repeated contention that the cause of climate change is uncertain

How modern cities made themselves livable

Financial deregulation has obviously been a disaster. Perhaps we are entering a new era, one in which it is acceptable to talk about the positive actions that governments can take. A friend of mine, Bryn Barnard, has written about how government first stepped in to provide a minimally healthy environment — in a chapter about […]

NYT Magazine features Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Maverick Farms, Anna Lappé, and more

You know the Sunday New York Times Magazine issue I blogged about a few days ago, the "food issue" featuring a major essay by Michael Pollan? It also highlighted the farm I help run, Maverick Farms, in a section on "food fighters." We’re extremely flattered and delighted to be included in the same list as […]

Clorox’s Green Works line now top-selling green cleaners in U.S.

Clorox’s first entree into the green-cleaning market, released just this year, is going swimmingly so far with the $5.3 billion company on track to sell over $40 million worth of its Green Works cleaners in the U.S., according to sales figures. The Clorox Company already captures a large swath of the conventional-cleaner market with brands […]

Report envisions various scenarios for global economy in 2030

What will our world look like in 2030? It depends on global response to climate change, says British think tank Forum for the Future, laying out five possible scenarios in a new report. Will we enjoy the “Energy Efficiency” scenario, where staying on the cutting edge of innovation keeps the low-carbon economy strong? Or will […]

The financial crisis could open up new opportunities for sustainability thinking

It’s official: we haven’t had a financial crisis like this since at least 1603, and commentators here in the U.K. seem to agree that things can never be the same again. Capitalism, if not in question, will be a very different beast from now on. Think donkey on short leash. It’s all a bit frightening, […]