Climate Culture

Nicholas Thompson reviews Digital Biology by Peter Bentley

As every picnicker knows, if you spill strawberry jam in the grass, it will be swarming with ants in no time at all. The ants arrive quickly because they always find the shortest route from their nests to the spill -- but how? That question is one that fascinates cutting-edge engineers, computer programmers, and other scientists, who study nature in order to design better and more efficient technology -- a quest compellingly described in Peter Bentley's new book, Digital Biology.

Sharri Baby

After years of mistrust and fear, Albanians and Serbs are coming together over a common interest: protecting the environment. In a project funded by the Norwegian and Dutch governments, environmental groups in Kosovo are setting up an electronic network to enable the former enemies to share resources and information on protecting the environment. The network, […]

Eco-Decorating

Thinking beyond the bottom link

My four-year-old daughter spent the afternoon at a local science museum the other day, exploring an exhibit on biodiversity. She returned home full of determination, found a pencil and paper, and composed a letter. Now she distributes copies to friends and strangers alike. The letter begins:   From Jenna to the world:Please stop making all […]

The Left Wing

Ah, the ever-elusive boundary between art and life. Who knows where it lies, but by all indications, somewhere right down the middle of the NBC drama “The West Wing.” Here’s the proof: This week, New Mexico’s Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources felt the need to issue a press release explaining that Wednesday’s episode […]

Quit Being Modest

Enviros chalked up a small victory yesterday when the U.S. Senate threw its support behind a measure requiring that investor-owned utilities produce at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The Senate did so by rejecting, 58 to 40, an attempt by Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) to remove the requirement from […]

I Sing the Garbage Electric

Maybe President Bush can learn a thing or two about environmental policy during his visit today to Monterrey, Mexico’s third-largest city and home to an innovative program to turn rotting garbage into electricity. The city government is working with a local energy company to construct an electricity plant at the Salinas Victoria Landfill; the plant […]

Price tags don’t tell the full story

I have a young friend who, I think, will never eat another banana without thinking a great deal about its history. Going bananas. On a trip to Belize, Hannah and other home-schooled teenagers saw monkeys, the rainforest, and Mayan villages. But the memory that seems to stand out most vividly is of a banana plantation. […]

Doo Process

Talkin’ Trash

What do you do with 11,000 tons of garbage per day? That’s the problem — well, one of the problems — plaguing New York City, whose trash disposal system is becoming a political, logistical, and financial headache for the beleaguered metropolis. A $6 billion long-term garbage-management plan devised by the Giuliani administration is stalled and […]