Japan quake 2011
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Tsunami disaster site rehabilitated as robot farm
The Japanese government is reclaiming land flooded by the March 2011 tsunami and turning it into what Wired calls a "robot-run super farm." The Ministry of Agriculture has claimed a 600-acre site, part of thousands of acres of farmland destroyed by the tsunami and its aftereffects, for its "Dream Project" — a farm tilled by […]
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Video: Here’s what being in a tsunami looks like
We saw some pretty insane videos of the Japanese tsunami back in March, when it happened, but this one (which is going newly viral for whatever reason, and which I hadn't seen before) is by far the insanest. This delivery driver caught the earthquake on his in-dash video, and it looks like no big deal […]
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What life is like inside the Fukushima evacuation zone
Photographer Max Hodges has a photo essay on Google+ about his travels in the Fukushima evacuation zone. This mysterious ninja, Shoji Kobayashi, had been living there since the nuclear disaster began, gardening and trying to salvage tsunami-damaged keepsakes.
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Used fuel-efficient compact cars increase 30 percent in value
There may still be something tangible in your life gaining value: your used, fuel-efficient car.
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Three energy developments that are changing your life — and not in a good way
This essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. Here’s the good news about energy: Thanks to rising oil prices and deteriorating economic conditions worldwide, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that global oil demand will not grow this year as much as once assumed, which may provide some […]
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Is pro-nuke enthusiasm in the U.S. waning?
This is the fourth and final post in a series on the United States and nuclear power. Read parts one, two, and three. Fukushima gave many Americans a sense of déjà vu: In 1979, a threatened explosion at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania caused by venting an explosive gas mixture was just […]
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States fight back against nuclear power, even as the feds remain in its thrall
This is part three in a series on the United States and nuclear power. Read parts one, two, and four. Although Democrats and Republicans in Congress feed at the nuclear industry’s trough in equal measure, Republicans in particular have been trying hard for years to bring about a renaissance of nuclear power in the United States. […]
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Americans want fuel-efficient cars — can Detroit keep up?
The fuel-efficient Ford Focus is in high demand. The Ford Econoline van? Not so much.Photo: Ford Motor CompanyCross-posted from Climate Progress. This post was cowritten by Tyce Herrman. With gas prices just below the $4 per gallon mark and possibly climbing to $5 per gallon later this summer, Americans are demanding more fuel-efficient automobiles. But […]
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Why is the United States so obsessed with nuclear power?
Why aren’t Americans more freaked out about the possibility of a nuclear accident? Photo: MikeThis is part one in a series on the United States and nuclear power. Read parts two, three, and four. After the nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima, as a German living in the U.S., I often get asked these days: What’s going […]