A recently converted vegetarian tells which meatless dogs cut the mustard

Do vegetarians have to trade that smoky, juicy hot-dog flavor from our childhood ballgames for rubbery, ersatz wieners? A brand new herbivore fearlessly fires up the grill to find out.

Charlotte does light rail right

Charlotte is car-loving NASCAR country, a vast suburbia of cul-de-sacs and strip malls. Yet its new light rail line is...

If Bingaman is the climate bill’s best hope, where does that leave us?

This is Sen. Jeff Bingaman looking excited.Could Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) be the savior for Senate climate legislation? That’s the...

‘The Climate War’ comes to California

Eric Pooley came to San Francisco last Tuesday to talk about his new book, The Climate War, at the offices...

Are environmentalists responsible for climate failure?

Environmentalists and their allies have expressed “disappointment” at the failure of the Senate to cap carbon pollution this year. A few bold voices have even suggested, gingerly, that President Obama might bear just a teensy bit of responsibility for this failure by not aggressively lobbying the Senate to take action or launching a consistent public campaign for action. Meanwhile, the White House isn’t shying from putting the blame squarely on environmentalists.

Popular fumigant found to be a potent greenhouse gas

Update [2009-3-14 16:17:10 by Tom Philpott]:The original version of this post, titled "Strawberry Surprise," contained errors that I regret. I had mistakenly read the below-linked account of an MIT study to mean that sulfuryl fluoride was registered for use by the EPA as a pre-planting fumigant for strawberries. Actually, the chemical is registered only for post-harvest use on food, as well as a structural fumigant for termites. I also reversed the phrases "methyl bromide" and "methyl iodide" on two occasions. Again, I regret these errors.

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Chemical fumigants are a staple of the industrial-food system. They're used to sterilize soil before planting large monocrops, and also to control pests in stored food like grain and dried fruit. The building industry, too, uses them, mainly to fight termites. In the past, fumigants have caused much environmental damage, and tend to be quite toxic for humans, too. Now comes news that the building industry's new favorite fumigant -- sulfuryl fluoride -- is a greenhouse gas 4,800 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to a recent MIT study.

Smart city governments grow produce for the people

Civic-minded local government officials from Baltimore, Md., to Bainbridge Island, Wash. are ripping out camellias and planting chard that's free for the taking instead, reports Public Produce author Darrin Nordahl. Dig into the next installment of our ongoing series on urban agriculture, "Feeding the City."

A way forward — climate hope in a prison of despair

The U.S. Senate has rejected taking action on a significant climate or energy bill this year. Heads are hanging in despair, moans of anguish are rising, and arguments are breaking out about who is to blame. Hope is here --- a light can still shine ... Here's how.

Energy efficiency helps homeowners avoid foreclosure

Energy-efficient homes have significantly lower default and delinquency rates than typical homes, according to an internal analysis conducted for a...