Latest Articles

Umbra on the most effective personal eco-actions

Dear Umbra, A lot of the questions people ask you ultimately involve pretty negligible results. When you are talking about the balance sheet of the world, does it really matter if I use a more or less environmentally responsible solution to wash my fruit? I’m wondering what three major concrete changes you’d recommend that people […]

At 70, Wendell Berry remains a champion of agrarian ideals

Wendell Berry, right at home. Wendell Berry, 70 years old today, has established himself as many things in his lifetime: a veteran sage of sustainable agriculture; a progressive defender of virtue and tradition; one of our most famous farmers to renounce the tractor; and one of our most acclaimed authors to shun the computer. To […]

A Real Kick in the Asthma

Global Warming Expected to Increase Smog Enviros sometimes struggle to connect distant, abstract issues like global warming to kitchen-table issues like dirty air and asthma. Well, here you go: By 2050, global warming is likely to increase the number of smog-alert days (in which air quality violates federal standards) by some 60 percent in 15 […]

It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Bank

World Bank to Continue Investing in Oil and Mining Sigh. The World Bank announced this week that it will continue to invest in oil, gas, and mining projects. Concern that such investments encourage the enrichment of corrupt elites and exacerbate rather than alleviate poverty led the bank to commission an independent review of extractive investments […]

Gray Matters

Russia’s Gray Whales Threatened by Oil Development A massive oil development project threatens gray whales that spend their summers in the Sea of Okhotsk off the remote Russian island of Sakhalin. While their close cousins off the California coast are thriving, the gray whale group in Russian waters has dwindled to around 100, with perhaps […]

Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama’s got green cred

Barack Obama. Photo: David Katz/Obama for Illinois. As if America needs one more reason to fall in love with Barack Obama. Beyond the unabashed idealism, stirring oratory skills, touching life story, and knee-buckling smile that have made this candidate for Illinois’ open Senate seat the new beau ideal of progressive politics, it so happens that […]

Funds in the Sun

Landmark California Solar Initiative Sitting on Schwarzenegger’s Desk If California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signs off on the “Million Solar Homes Initiative” in its present form, some $100 million in subsidies will go toward insuring that 50 percent of all new homes in the state be equipped with photovoltaic solar panels by 2013. The landmark […]

Spare the Rod or You’ll Spoil the Child

Half of All Freshwater Fish in U.S. High in Mercury In the 21st century, it seems, having kids and eating fish do not mix. The bad fish news just keeps on coming: Yesterday, a new analysis showed that more than half of the freshwater fish in the U.S. contain levels of mercury unsafe for children […]

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Any More)

Mountains in Peru, Italy Falling Apart; Global Warming to Blame Global warming is destroying some of the world’s tallest and most stunning mountains. In Peru, the glaciers capping 18 peaks in the Andes are melting, and if “climatic conditions remain as they are, all the glaciers below 18,000 feet will disappear by around 2015,” said […]

X-Trees

Scientists Genetically Engineer Trees for Environmental Mitigation The fledgling practice of genetically engineering trees for specific traits or purposes is starting to catch on, but despite the potential for mitigation of some environmental problems, enviros remain wary. Richard Meagher at the University of Georgia engineers trees that absorb mercury from the soil. Steven Strauss at […]