Latest Articles

Does the Polar Bear Club Know About This?

Vast lakes discovered underneath Antarctic ice sheet Thrilling hairy men in Speedos everywhere, satellite-wielding scientists have mapped new lakes deep below Antarctica’s legendary ice. The finds, they say, could help predict how the area will respond to climate change. According to research published online in the journal Science, the lakes, some of which span hundreds […]

If It Weren’t for Those Meddling Kids

Legislators around the globe demand climate-change action This week, Canada’s House of Commons voted 161 to 113 to force the Conservative government to stick to its Kyoto Protocol greenhouse-gas emissions targets and punish over-polluting industries. Since taking power in 2006, the Conservatives have continually claimed that Kyoto targets would be simply impossible to reach, dahling, […]

Yes, really

Reports out of Spain over the holidays indicate that Siberian bears aren't the only ones losing sleep this winter. In the Cantabarian mountains of northern Spain, mother bears are postponing hibernation to gather food that isn't usually available.

Hybrid cars dangerously quiet for pedestrians

Turns out that it isn't just U.S. automakers that have been put in mortal danger by hybrids (it is their fault, of course): the National Federation of the Blind said this week that those at risk include (gasp) cyclists, the blind, the elderly, and distracted pedestrians. Lay on those horns, people!

Offers boldest plan of any candidate

To call ex-Iowa governor Tom Vilsack a dark horse candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination is to underestimate the chances of dark-colored horses. But it seems to have freed him up to make some serious policy proposals. The energy plan (PDF) Vilsack unveiled on Tuesday is the ballsiest and most detailed any candidate from either […]

She says the right thing

Hillary Clinton says the two questions she’s asked most often by young people are about stopping genocide in Darfur and about stopping global warming. Here she is at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire: (via Hugg)

Ben & Jerry’s names ice cream in honor of Colbert

Vermonty ice-cream makers Ben & Jerry’s announced yesterday their newest flavor, "Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream." The vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and caramel is like "the sweet taste of liberty in your mouth," reps said at the unveiling. In honor of the new flavor, the Ben & Jerry’s website has a truth-themed […]

More fun with analogies!

I commend everyone to this article by Ben Adler on American Prospect, which addresses a perpetually overlooked strategy to reduce oil use and combat global warming: With all the focus on … “alternate energy programs,” too many [politicians] are ignoring a long-existing technology that, unlike, say, ethanol, already has the power to radically reduce our […]

How a cookbook renaissance heated up the sustainable-food movement

In the postmodern United States, a cultural critic laments, “The pleasures of the table are rarely appreciated at face value.”      Speak truth to flour. A near-hysterical concern with health has replaced common sense, he continues, leading to all manner of dubious decisions: “Americans blithely drink sodas filled with artificial flavors and sweeteners, yet paste warning […]

We need this

Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) just introduced a federal renewable portfolio standard bill. HR 969 would mandate 20 percent renewable energy by 2020. We need this. You can cap and trade all you want, but that won't necessarily develop a market for renewables. This will. And we will not be effective against global warming without a transition to renewable energy. Full stop.

Our good friends at UCS have made taking action easy, here.