Latest Articles

A review of Peter Barnes’ Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons

Peter Barnes' Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons (also available as a free PDF at Barnes' site) suggests that flaws in capitalism lie at the root of the environmental and social problems we face today; his solution, as a retired corporate CEO, is not to discard capitalism, but fix those flaws.

Greenpeace ad on climate change

I have mixed feelings about this powerful ad. I'm curious to know how it strikes others.

Atlas makes significant changes to maps due to human activity

The editors of the Times Atlas made significant changes to their newest edition to reflect altered coastlines and shrinking lakes affected by climate change and unregulated irrigation. The last edition of the Atlas, which is published in Britain, came out in 2003; the newest edition contains “half a dozen major examples of how human activities […]

Doctors suggest global warming could lead to more heart problems

Does global warming make you heartsick? Oh wait, we mistyped. Retry: Does global warming make your heart sick? Some doctors think it might.

Umbra on mini-dilemmas

Dear Umbra, Unfortunately, my nose runs a lot even when I am not sick. I’ve always wondered about the disposal of tissues and hope you can help calm my environmental nerves. Is it best to use a standard tissue and throw it in the trashcan, or blow my nose with toilet paper and flush it […]

The L.A. Times covers the important debate over whom Laurie David should be dating

Gina Piccalo has a piece in the L.A. Times on the most vital issue facing the nation: green celebrity hypocrisy. It’s far more thoughtful and less glib than most discussions of that subject. Still, by the end of the piece I was ready to jump out the window. Somehow taking a serious journalistic approach to […]

Steve Irwin’s daughter launches Bindi Wear eco-clothing line

Bindi Irwin, the 9-year-old daughter of the late Croc Hunter (R.I.P., mate), has launched her own children’s clothing line: The T-shirts, jumpers, swimwear, sleepwear, hats, bags and shoes carry environmental messages. The tags are made from recycled cardboard, the soles on the shoes are made with recycled rubber and 100 per cent of the profits […]

Mattel recalls another batch of lead-painted toys

Toy giant Mattel on Tuesday issued its third round of major recalls in recent weeks for a variety of its toys that contained “impermissible levels of lead,” according to the company, including some Barbie play sets and Fisher-Price toys. In all, the most recent round of recalls covers some 840,000 items. “We’ve worked very hard […]

British reality show dumps participants into a trash-heap of trouble

This is an interesting concept for a reality show: Eleven unsuspecting volunteers are left marooned on one of Britain’s biggest landfill sites for three weeks. Their challenge? To survive off the rubbish the rest of us have thrown out. How will they react when they are delivered to a huge, smelly British landfill site instead […]

On the problem of carbon-offset projects in developing countries

[editor's note, by David Roberts] Important update to this post here.

It turns out that Climate Care, a major indulgence offset provider, is paying farmers in India to pump water with treadles rather than diesel pumps in order to offset plane flights.

I would hope that supporters of offsets would be as quick as opponents to see what is wrong with this. In case someone is reading this before their morning coffee, I will simply point out that it is one thing for rich, overweight Americans to substitute manual labor for energy use, and another for a poor Indian farmer who already has plenty of manual labor in his life to do so. It is paying poor people to suffer to offset plane rides for the rich.