World population could just keep on expanding, says expert

"Leading demographers, including those at the United Nations and the U.S. Census Bureau, are projecting that world population will peak at 9.5 billion to 10 billion later this century and then gradually decline as poorer countries develop. But what if those projections are too optimistic?"

Separating fact from fiction on the Keystone XL

Both sides of the oil sands debate exaggerate their arguments. The oil sands are neither a climate catastrophe nor an energy security bonanza.

Red states, green jobs

It's too bad conservative lawmakers want to shut the South's booming clean economy down, since green jobs fight poverty in the region.

U.S. government gives food speculators the thumbs up

Since the housing crash, food prices have been at the center of Wall Street speculator's games. Can government regulation make a difference?

Walmart’s promised green product rankings fall off the radar

In 2009, Walmart created a stir when it announced that it would develop a Sustainability Index to assess the environmental...

Two Stories of Disease: Smallpox and Polio

Smallpox plagued humanity for thousands of years. In the 18th century, smallpox killed one out of every ten children in...

Food Studies: Post-communist pork, the Goat Whisperer, and other stories from the field

Mangalica pigs in Hungary. Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and...

Wind power breakthrough: Carbon nanotubes make strongest, lightest blades ever

Bigger wind turbines can harvest more wind energy, but they're also heavier, which makes them less efficient. But a scientist at Case Western Reserve University figures he can solve this fundamental dilemma by throwing carbon nanotubes at it.  

The Onion nails core dilemma of tackling climate change

As individuals, how can we face the existential threat of climate change when we are continually reminded that everything we do -- the very act of living -- inexorably contributes to our own undoing? It’s sort of the world’s most angst-inducing question, which is why the Onion’s take on it is so genius.