Most people are skeptical of GM foods. Why can't we label them?
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Unlike doctors, animal scientists don't face strict rules about their ties to drug companies. But the growing trend raises questions about the line between advocacy and research.
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Global Teach-In sets the stage for everyday people to solve the environmental, economic, and energy crises.
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After the real fur coat controversies, high-end fashion has a new animal victim—boa constrictors and other snakes killed for their reptile skin.
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Innovations in environmental clean-up and green business owe their success to ingenuity and mushrooms.
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The Farm Bill affects everything from school lunches to climate change. Its expiration in September has ignited a debate about the future of food in America...
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The health risks of RF-EMFs, the radiation from cell phone towers and other media technology, are not entirely known, though early signs are troubling.
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A new multi-person bicycle is replacing the traditional school bus in parts of the Netherlands.
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Handwashing is essential to prevent disease, but it’s a luxury many refugees cannot afford—until now with the Global Soap Project.
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The growth in urban farming is sprouting some negative side effects, such as the influx of barnyard animals to humane societies across the country.
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A charming Magellanic penguin warms the hearts of scientists sent to study the endangered birds.
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Bicycle-run composting services are springing up in cities across the country, giving new meaning to the idea of community gardening.
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Resilience strategist Johan Rockstrom on what it would take to protect the Earth’s systems from catastrophic failure…
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Social entrepreneur Solomon Prakash on what would it take for social entrepreneurship to help pull people out of poverty...
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The legal fight to protect organic, genetically pure seeds is heating up...
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Seattle’s sprawling Beacon Food Forest—the nation’s largest public food forest—will grow a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables, free for the taking....
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Two portraits of urban beekeepers reveal the art and splendor of local honey...
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Physicist Robert Socolow on what it would take to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and solve climate change...
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The urban homesteading movement has a dark side, sending hundreds of neglected backyard chickens and goats to city animal shelters that aren’t equipped to care for them....
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There’s a powerful way for marketers to signal an environmental product to shoppers: Make it brown…
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Author and optimist Alex Steffen on what would it take to make a city carbon neutral...
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A higher percentage of African Americans consider climate change a serious problem than whites, yet the organizations at the forefront of the American environmental movement display a surprising lack of ethnic diversity.
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Searching for lost youth and the world’s most luscious apricots
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The Great Green Wall of Africa may help limit the spread of desertification.
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Does political conflict act as a catalyst for environmental preservation?
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The Nature Conservancy is taking a new stripped-down approach to environmental protection: The green group is teaming up with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue…
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A pedal-powered school bus developed in the Netherlands is an eco-friendly (and fun) way for elementary school kids to get to their classrooms.
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Alexandra Cousteau on what would it take to create sustainable ocean fisheries...
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Let’s heal our relationship with water, an irreplaceable liquid
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A new water ethic is not only essential—it’s possible.
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Honesty has ceased to be a virtue, and in its absence “our society risks a future of moral numbness,” writes William Damon…
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Guitar manufacturers are shredding the rainforest faster than a Van Halen solo...
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To the power brokers of America’s right, climate change poses a dire threat to business as usual…
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Fears of violence and a hunger for profit are sparking a worldwide run on farmland...
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Lynx, wolves, moose, and wild boars still roam under dense tree cover in Latvia—but the country’s alarming logging spree may endanger this rich European outpost of wildlife…
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The modern wilderness expedition is typically a heavily sponsored, satellite-uplinked, closely tracked affair. So it’s a breath of fresh air to read an expedition account that truly takes you to the edge of adventure and to the limits of human endurance…
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We ought to put aside our extremism and come together to find common solutions, goes the conventional wisdom—and you can see where that kind of thinking has gotten us. Well, it’s time to reject this middling middle-of-the-roadism…
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Underwater construction is dangerous for salmon swimming to spawning grounds. Luckily, we can help....
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India is pushing organic cultivation initiatives to stanch the spate of farmer suicides...
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Some argue that the big business is sustainable design is a fraud...
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Oyster mushrooms can turn disposable diapers into a profitable food staple...
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Did the United States poison tens of thousands of its own soldiers in Iraq with fumes from burning toxic trash?...
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The U.S. military no longer wants to trade blood for oil...
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Revolution Recovery is a green business that’s pioneering ways to keep the daily deluge of construction and demolition waste out of landfills…
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Some fallacies die long, slow, hard deaths, and it appears that’s what’s happening with the happy, comforting, brainless mantra “Growth is good”…
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The decisions, or lack thereof, that come from the UN Climate Summits affect the least powerful on the planet—those who have come to be known as the 99 percent—the most...
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Why a real Christmas tree is a healthier and more environmentally friendly option than an artificial tree…
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Is there a better use for greens and fairways?...
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Forward-thinking scientists are trying to weed out the toxic chemicals from the sustainable ones...
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The film Urban Roots focuses on the gardeners who are turning the vacant lots of Detroit into fields of abundance…
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It’s time to confront our long-held, deeply ingrained belief that water should be forever free…
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Is global warming an election issue after all?
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Boulder, Colorado, took a landmark step toward energy independence when its voters chose to allow the city to consider creating its own municipal power utility…
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It’s been an uplifting several days for anyone who’s opposed to the massive Keystone XL oil pipeline, which had seemed to be steamrolling toward approval …
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Two California vintners want to cut down 2,000 acres of redwood trees and replace them with vineyards in the largest woodland-to-vineyard conversion in California’s history…
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As the Girl Scout organization turns 100, they introduce a new merit badge that celebrates going local….
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A new program is pointing the way toward a more sustainable future for Mongolia, using the concept of the commons as a way to share resources—in this case, those seemingly endless pasturelands…
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The world population reaches 7 billion people….
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You don’t have to be a tree hugger to understand Diana Beresford-Kroeger’s message: We had better take care of the trees, because the trees take care of us…
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OnEarth magazine’s no-holds-barred story about Canada’s environmental record is a particularly tough pill to swallow for any Canadian who still harbors the illusion that his or her country is a beacon of enlightenment…
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What makes us love getting our hands dirty in urban gardens? Alemany Farm co-manager Jason Mark digs up the benefits behind the urban farming movement—from personal satisfaction to a reconnection with nature, even if the freeway is just a few feet away….
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If the consumer frenzy of Halloween gives you the shivers, we’ve got tips to soothe your socially conscious soul, including a company that collects and recycles mini candy wrappers….
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Make no mistake: Environmental activist and Utne Reader visionary Tim DeChristopher is in prison mainly because he dared to continue speaking out…
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Extreme gardeners are pushing the limits of pumpkin-growing science...
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Bisphenol A and two other chemicals have been linked to infertility in several recent studies, adding new environmental concerns to couples trying to conceive…
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Where did the President’s mojo go?...
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Electric vehicles are creating a lot of promise in the green world, but they don’t necessarily lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Consider the cases of China and Sweden…
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Driven to act for the wilderness and against climate change, activist Tim DeChristopher threw a monkey wrench into a federal auction for oil leases. He’s spending two years in prison, but in the process he’s become a folk hero to many greens...
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A Lebanese American living in the Southwestern United States, Gary Paul Nabhan has for decades been writing, speaking, and doing research on the importance of local, sustainable food. His work has been vital to the current conversation about how we eat...
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Scientist and author Diana Beresford-Kroeger speaks for the trees. She has studied their environmental, medicinal, nutritional and even spiritual aspects, and she has a “bioplan” in which they could reforest and heal the planet...
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Monsanto has a well-documented history of aggressively defending its genetically modified seeds. Organic farmer Jim Gerritsen is leading a lawsuit against the corporate agriculture giant on behalf of 270,000 family farmers, gardeners, and consumers who are suing to keep a portion of the world food supply free of genetic modification...
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Much “Indian land” is actually out of the control of Indians. Non-Indians own more than 65 percent of the reservation land in the United States…
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Cash-strapped state park managers are forging partnerships with corporations to close their budget gaps. But what does Coca-Cola have to do with outdoor recreation?…
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“Agricultural urbanism” aims to protect farmland from suburban sprawl by creating a new kind of agri-centric community…
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“Save the whales” may have become something of a schoolyard taunt for anti-environmentalists to hurl, but make no mistake: Some activists are still out there, saving whales…
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Ecomusicology is a diverse academic field bridging sound and science...
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Monks work with their hands to sustain a forest and forge inner peace...
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An environmentalist begs his comrades for honesty, accuracy, and a sense of humor...
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Farmers need to make more money to feed the world...
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A suburban farmer ruminates on loam, longevity, and living the good life...
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We’ve learned, time and time again, that damming rivers causes all sorts of problems for both nature and society—and yet we keep building dams all over the world…
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Whisky fuels lots of things—rebellions, country and western songs, and Shane MacGowan, to name just a few. Now it’s going to power 9,000 homes in Scotland…
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While fast fashion—clothes produced quick and dirty to keep up with industry trends—is de rigueur in America, a recent study suggests slow fashion could be the next big trend…
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If you know even a little bit about the natural world, you’ll find Aelian’s On the Nature of Animals quite ridiculous, but perhaps the Roman scribe was on to something…
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Farmers are often among the first people to notice a shift in the climate. So I also take seriously the cumulative daily—and yearly—field research of a trusted source: My local CSA …
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An author looks at a forgotten corner of exurbia—rural New England—and considers what his father's commute teaches us about the environmental consequences of the back-to-the-land lifestyle...
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Is that wood legal? Scan it and see. Liberia is putting barcodes on lumber in order to clean up its logging industry and preserve its rainforest…
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It seems like a brilliant green-power scheme: Capture the unharnessed energy created by people working out in health clubs…
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Tenderloin National Forest is a welcome green space amid San Francisco’s seedy underbelly...
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Free stores—shops that offer goods at no cost—encourage people of all income levels to give what they can, take what they need, and rethink consumer culture…
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Acting as a living tribute to Martin Luther King...
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Seed-lending programs are taking root in public libraries across the country...
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Meet the EPA’s new eco-crime-fighting agents...
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A conservationist working to save endangered sea turtles is taking a counterintuitive approach—he’s befriending the poachers…
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In a crowded field of Republican hopefuls, a candidate that takes a progressive stance on climate change could win the day...
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The nuclear industry is teaching its vision of a bright nuclear future to schoolchildren…
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Beware the vine creep. That’s the name given to the widespread profusion of lianas—woody, tree-climbing vines—across the tropical forests of North, South, and Central America…
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Take a video tour of Daniel Aragon’s 110-square-foot micro home—made from more than 50 percent recycled and reclaimed materials—near Telluride, Colorado.
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That fresh pine scent may be harming your health and polluting the environment. A study of 25 scented products found that they collectively emitted more than 100 volatile organic compounds…
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Think of your favorite environmental writers, and chances are you won’t bring to mind people like Wangari Maathai, Abdul Rahman, Arundhati Roy, or Ken Saro-Wiwa…
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It’s easy to make fun of biodynamic wine growers: After all, they bury manure in cow horns to absorb “life forces” from the earth, plant and harvest their grapes according to astrological charts, and concoct potion-like preparations…
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How do honeybees find a new home? In the same way they do most everything: Through a highly regimented, hierarchical yet democratic process—with dancing!...
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The new Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change + Health ranks the best and worst food choices for our planet and our bodies. Put down the lamb chop…
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Political candidates of all stripes can gain votes by acknowledging that human-caused climate change is real and that we ought to do something about it, a new survey suggests…
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Family farmers sue Monsanto, challenging the agricultural megacorporation’s seed patents and fighting to keep a portion of the world food supply organic….
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A forward-thinking experiment finds cause for concern in an artificial future...
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A growing number of beer makers are incorporating green practices in their brewing operations, but a couple of brothers setting up a brewery in Chicago are setting their sights even higher: They’re aiming for a zero-waste facility…
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Public golf courses, whose audience has gone the way of plaid slacks, are being remade by more cities into parks and other more in-demand amenities…
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Benedictine sisters in Wisconsin employ cutting-edge sustainability practices...
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A simple fire reveals the beginnings of our environmental crisis...
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A canoeist is headed to court for defying a “No Trespassing” sign on a creek that passes through private property. Such cases are important to anyone who values public access to public resources…
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Ethical restaurateurs take the pledge to stop selling bottled water, regardless of the effect on their bottom line....
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The relationship between changing oceanic conditions and severe tornadoes...
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Children growing up today are bombarded by a host of chemical compounds, and we’re only beginning to understand how this is affecting their health and development…
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Author E.B. White gave voice to animals from spiders to dachsunds, but it wasn’t mere anthropomorphism that drove him...
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Refugees from Bhutan and Burma plant native foods in community gardens, using seeds that were sewn into their clothing to make the long journey to America…
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Man-made wildlife crossings save lives and money...
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It’s refreshing to see an environmental documentary that forces viewers to challenge their own preconceptions and opinions. If a Tree Falls, currently playing in theaters, is one such film…
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Preparing the land for a post–peak oil society...
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Winners and losers in the great global energy struggle to come...
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A politically conservative bike commuter tries to broach the partisan divide with the commentary “How to Talk About Cycling to a Conservative”…
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Public schools are greening their curricula and teaching environmental literacy...
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Four hikers look to the spirit of Ed Abbey at a moral crossroads on a mountain...
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The reintroduction of wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains has led to a culture war, James William Gibson reports in Earth Island Journal—and the controversy is not even necessarily all about the wolves. It’s about the government keeping a good man down…
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Laojunshan National Park epitomizes natural beauty, but can it survive tourism?...
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Winter in Mongolia is bleak, bitterly cold, and unforgiving...
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Why is it so hard for many people to say that they’re environmentalists? ...
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Concern for animals is rooted in our history, and in our nature...
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On a small farm, animals are a link in the chain of life...
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Our wacky, complicated relationships with creatures great and small...
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The recent uproar over bedbugs barely scratches the surface...
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As the global energy crisis deepens, these three energy developments will change your life...
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How the cultural ideal of rugged American character came to be appropriated and transformed into a generic and widely replicated template of spatial protocols...
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President Mohamed Nasheed, who once held an underwater cabinet meeting calling for action against climate change, discusses the Maldives’ response to the crisis…
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All this concern about toxins in plastic toys, baby bottles, breast milk, shampoos—is it partly the result of a bunch of worry-prone uber-moms worked up over exaggerated rumors and dubious science? No way, reports Judith Shulevitz at The New Republic…
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At seed-lending libraries, gardeners and farmers “check out” seeds and see what grows…
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At the end of the day, your views on nuclear power come down to being either a true believer or a skeptic…
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In Louisiana, the nutria—an ugly, invasive, environment-damaging swamp rat—may be poised to become a fashion trend…
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Would you want to go camping, hiking, biking, or trail running with the Koch brothers? Me neither. Well, then, why on earth would you want to do any of those things with the products they help make?...
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How to have an honest conversation about the future without losing hope...
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The steep rise of clear-cut logging in British Columbia and beyond can be traced to a single mechanical innovation: The feller-buncher…
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Welcome to one of the world’s most efficient recycling programs: Cairo...
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The 2011 Utne Independent Press Award nominees for environmental coverage are in a category of their own when it comes to writing about nature…
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As the small-house movement picks up speed, get ready to make your move...
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President Obama’s tenacity in clinging to nuclear power is astounding. He wants to extend another $36 billion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans to the nuclear industry…
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Time-worn agroforestry practices may be the future of sustainable development...
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Some developers are starting to incorporate a new feature into neighborhoods: A food supply…
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As we near the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, professor Timothy Beatley looks at how the design of cities affects the health of the planet's oceans...
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As the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf approaches we look to some of our trusted sources to catch up on the story....
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An ecologist walking on the beach wonders, worries, and dreams of a better future...
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Northern California’s iconic redwood groves face tough growing conditions in a warming world, writes Sierra magazine. To study the sequoias more closely, tree scientists are ascending into the canopy…
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Women are 14 percent more likely than men to select environmentally friendly packaging over conventional alternatives...
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Is electronic grounds management an engineering marvel or an environmental catastrophe?...
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Before the extent of Japan’s nuclear crisis had even become clear—in fact, before the aftershocks had ended—nuclear apologists were rushing forth to point out that the Fukushima incident was no Chernobyl. They can eat their words…
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In Canada, tar sands oil extraction leaves behind a denuded landscape and is blamed for a host of ills, including cancer, in local people. It also employs many people and fills a need: Our insatiable thirst for energy…
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Green terrorists jihad against global warming...
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Does America’s fascination with firearms play a key role in our love for caped crusaders?...
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The second installment of J. Curt Stager’s bold, far-reaching look at how our actions will decide the planet’s future for millennia to come...
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It’s maple syruping time, and the sap is running. Would you like your syrup with hints of vanilla and some subtle floral notes, or perhaps a heartier “put-hair-on-your-chest” maple flavor?...
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2010 Utne Reader Visionary Rebecca Solnit on what you need to survive the unexpected...
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A bold, far-reaching look at how our actions will decide the planet’s future for millennia to come...
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Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution hits the road in trucks designed to bring his back-to-basics food-prep philosophy to the people who need it most...
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A Wisconsin hospital serves up healthy meals and rebuilds an agricultural network...
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Peat moss takes thousands of years to form and stores massive amounts of the earth’s carbon, making it a pretty unsustainable growing medium or soil additive for gardeners…
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In the wake of Japan’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, there are simple ways you can lend a hand…
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A new study finds paints hyped as healthier and greener have issues of their own...
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Heavy metals, burning waste, expended weaponry, and polluted water have left Iraq with a poisoned generation...
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Sendai, the city nearest the epicenter of Japan’s devastating earthquake, was slated to host a high-tech conference in August. The chairman of the event used poetic phrasing to preview it…
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Videos from around the world of Japan’s historic earthquake and the resulting tsunami...
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A common criticism of electric cars is that they’ve simply got “long tailpipes”—that is, they still pollute, albeit at the power plant where their power is generated rather than at the auto itself. But this critique ultimately doesn’t hold much air...
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Scientists who study wild animals must get very close to their subjects, sometimes even capturing or tranquilizing them to do diagnostics or attach a tag or radio transmitter. And this might harm the animal…
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Our toxic desire for the natural world...
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Will global warming kick off a new (black) gold rush in the Arctic?...
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Carl Safina’s new book The View From Lazy Point is a font of environmental wisdom on the natural world and all that affects it, including human behavior, economics, religion, and science…
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Graveyards become public green spaces in a growing trend…
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Gaia theory is no longer looked down upon by many scientists—in fact, it has slowly become downright respectable…
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Utne Reader visionary Bill McKibben talks to The Nation about the damage we've already done to our environment...
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A luxury-food entrepreneur aims to turn us on to handcrafted, small-batch soy products...
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There’s an outbreak of bird beak deformities in Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington, and scientists are trying to figure out what’s behind it…
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The discovery of a rare toad in Tanzania has brought conflict—to the scientist who found it, to Tanzania, and to the beleaguered amphibian at the center of the fight …
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Ultra-small houses are the latest manifestation of American consumerism...
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Following Keynes, Joseph Stiglitz proposes solutions that would heal the economy and the environment in one fell swoop...
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Derrick Jensen succinctly describes how the economy is based on “the conversion of the living to the dead”…
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Hurricane Katrina did a whole lot of damage, but at least one good thing has come out of the disaster’s aftermath: Composite wood products are now greener and healthier …
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Gays and lesbians are more concerned about environmental issues than other Americans, a new poll finds—and Grist asks just what is going on here. Why is the gay agenda such a green agenda?...
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The best way to preserve the red, white, and blue is by going green now...
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Many craft beer brewers are taking measures to be more sustainable, but few of them have taken things as far as the Alaskan Brewing Company. Its remote location has pushed it to hone efficiency and cut waste …
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Judy Bonds, the activist who fought against destructive and toxic coal mining in her native Appalachia and was named an Utne visionary in 2009, has died of cancer …
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Happy New Year? Novelist Douglas Coupland says bah humbug …
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In March 2009, Raymond Lee Oyler became the first U.S. citizen to be convicted for murder and sentenced to death for setting a wildfire, a California blaze that killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters....
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While “urban boosters” trash suburbs, cities may be the true enemy...
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An Iraqi American works to restore his native country’s valuable marshlands...
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Alaskan villagers fight to keep their town—and culture—alive as climate change threatens both….
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Many Republican politicians continue to cling to a science-defying denial of climate change. Meanwhile, writes Earth Island Journal, “Some of the most recognizable militants in the Islamic world … have recently made statements linking peace and stability with healthy ecosystems …”
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The backyard chicken boom is teaching a lot of urban dwellers about life on the farm—but it’s death that is proving to be the harder lesson for some of them …
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Two writers explore the belief in large ape-like creatures in vastly different places on the globe....
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Four-wheelers ripping through Southwestern U.S. desert landscapes can do a lot of damage to fragile ecosystems. And some of the best evidence comes in the form of YouTube videos made by the drivers and their buddies themselves …
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Proposals to make two Western rivers safer by moving gnarly rocks has kicked off a debate about how far humans should go in engineering nature for recreation’s sake …
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Water-based paints have a reputation as a healthier, greener alternative to yesteryear’s oil-based paints, but a new study has found that children exposed to fumes from water-based paints have a heightened risk of asthma and allergies …
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If hunting is largely about the thrill of the chase, “canned hunts” don’t offer much opportunity for thrill: In these increasingly popular pay-to-shoot events, hunters kill tame or semi-tame animals in enclosures …
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Americans could reduce the country’s annual CO2 emissions by 7 percent—roughly the total emissions of France—just by taking 17 relatively painless environmental actions...
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A Virginia town’s transformation from commercial zone to livable community...
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New research increasingly indicates that air pollution can inflame and damage the brain...
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A run-in with Roundup herbicide was a transformative episode in farmer Eric Herm’s shift toward sustainable agriculture …
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“Messy urbanism” is the term coined for an alternative to all of the neatness that has dominated the popular perception of what makes an ideal city....
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At least one brave Republican in Congress concedes that global warming is real and should be aggressively addressed. There’s a problem, though: He’s just been voted out of office …
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Under the Democratic-led Congress, action against climate change went essentially nowhere. Under the coming Republican-led Congress, it appears to be headed backward …
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The recent U.S. election was discouraging in general for green transportation advocates, but one particularly painful loss was the unseating of Minnesota Democratic congressman James Oberstar, a bicycling advocate …
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Beneath Mongolia’s steppes and desert lie mineral riches worth an estimated $1.3 trillion, reports Eurasianet.org …
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Tons of plastic trash floats in the middle of the earth's oceans. Why not recycle it and turn it into stylish home appliances?...
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A new high-rise planned for Dornbin, Austria, is notable for its principle construction material: wood. Its maker, CREE, is mounting a charge to restore wood as a renewable material for large projects …
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A guide to buying eco-friendly, ethically sound booze for the holiday season. Because nobody wants to get sloshed with a guilty conscience….
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Plastics pollute our landscapes and our bodies. Help, in the form of the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, is on the way. However, there are many things concerned consumers can do while they wait for that act to take effect.
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One of the parties on the ballot on Election Day holds a position that virtually no party in the world’s liberal democracies shares. The Republicans’ steadfast rejection of climate science makes it a global outlier …
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As autumn sweeps across the land, so does the grating whine of leaf blowers—and in some cities, peace-seeking citizens are campaigning to restrict use of the devices …
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“Kill Your Lawn,” urges the Sacramento News & Review in a story about cutting residential water use by ripping out turf and putting in climate-appropriate plants …
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The accounting experts have crunched the numbers, and the results are in: We are undervaluing the earth …
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Oceanic carbon sequestration could devastate sea life, but it might be better than the alternative….
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Many urban areas have taken to creating city parks from industrial ruins and abandoned buildings. The results, as with New York City's High Line, are often impressive and well-received....
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Is there a packaging solution that will trump plastic bottles once and for all? One company thinks water should come from cardboard....
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It’s easy to get discouraged about the state of the environment, but the book A Reenchanted World by James William Gibson, published this spring in paperback, offers some succor to despairing souls …
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Utne Reader Visionary Bill McKibben discusses in an interview how he helped build 350.org into a force to be reckoned with, what keeps him inspired, and how he retains his cool demeanor in heated debates about our warming world …
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Military vets are on a mission to end America’s dependence on fossil fuels...
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Prog rockers Mose Giganticus save on gas money by scavenging and recycling grease to convert into fuel…
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Ecuador has struck a historic agreement to leave one-fifth of its oil reserves untapped forever. The move protects a marvelously rich area of the Amazon rainforest and will net Ecuador $3.6 billion in compensation …
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It’s easy to get a green vibe from Trader Joe’s: Organic and “natural” products pepper the shelves of its cozy, Hawaiian-themed stores, as chalkboard signs enthuse about bargains on tempeh, arugula, and the like. But it’s difficult to know how sustainable Joe’s really is, since the company is “notoriously tight-lipped” about the sources of its house products....
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Around the turn of the last century, city planning was motivated by concern for citizens living in urban industrial areas. Not long after, “the planning of built environments was hijacked by the car,” and driving needs and consumer convenience began to dictate design. Miller-McCune argues that it’s time to dispose of car-centered approaches to city planning and put public health at the forefront....
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Liberalism in the classical sense is neither left nor right, and it’s spreading worldwide—but catastrophic climate change could be its undoing …
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New urbanism aims to create pedestrian-friendly communities. But are these mixed-use developments always bike-friendly as well?
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If you couldn’t make it out to this year’s event, here’s what you missed….
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Eating invasive species out of existence...
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Inventive chefs turn an invasive species into a delicacy...
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Terri and Josh Shortlidge of Melrose, Massachusetts, have slept in a tent in their backyard for more than a year …
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Europe may soon build its first mega-dairy. To get a glimpse of what’s coming their way, some intrepid reporters for Britain’s Ecologist visited California’s Central Valley and emerged with this eye-opening video report …
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Is food preservation a political act? Many of the gardeners and home canners surveyed by two social scientists for their academic study “Saving Food: Food Preservation as Alternative Food Activism” think so …
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“National parks get all the glory,” writes Jesse Smith at The Smart Set, but he says state parks deserve props, too. National Public Lands Day on Saturday celebrates them all ...
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The USDA has recently amended its standards for labeling milk “organic” to reflect consumer expectations....
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The Believer interviews Robin Nagle, anthropologist-in-residence at New York City’s Department of Sanitation....
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On a planet with a changing climate and dwindling resources, we need a lot more sustainability experts and a lot fewer legal experts …
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Wildfire arsonists are increasingly being held accountable for the deaths incurred by their reckless actions....
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One design firm arms ordinary people against urban decay with hand-held seedbombs....
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Four daring and well-trained Greenpeace activists have climbed and occupied an oil rig in Greenland’s Baffin Bay…
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It may be easy to write off e-reader devices as wasteful gadgets, but in the long run, they're the eco-conscious choice for bookworms.
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The pleasures, perils, and occasional pointlessness of trying to live green...
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Antigovernment conservatives love to complain about the nanny state, and some of them are aiming their ire at a new target: low-flow showerheads…
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Due to increased temperatures, a beetle known as the coffee berry borer is threatening many coffee crops in new places around the world....
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The nefarious taint of oil in the Gulf may put a crucial component of the oceanic ecosystem in a chokehold—and we won't even see it coming....
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The nasty chemical bisphenol A may be making lobsters more susceptible to disease …
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A song from the TV show Family Guy about a “little whore” with Down syndrome is up for an Emmy Award, and some disability advocates aren’t happy about it …
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As climate change alters Greenland, the country has a chance to profit and gain independence—but at what cost? …
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They've seen war firsthand. Now they're traveling the country, educating Americans about how our addition to oil impacts our foreign affairs...
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In the Farm Beginnings program, agricultural hopefuls connect with mentors, training, and support to plan and evaluate their future business plans...
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Roundup is one of the best-known herbicides, but it’s not just for farmers and groundskeepers—the logging industry also pours tons of the stuff on forests…
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Pallet-loads of phone books continue to be dropped at doorsteps across the nation—but it’s possible to unsubscribe from them …
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Cows eat grass. You wouldn’t think it’s a big deal to state this, but at Iowa State University it is …
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While Michelle Obama tends an organic plot at the White House, her husband loves up industrial agriculture...
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Starvation is often the result of inequity and politics, not a shortage of food...
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That food you left on your plate really could feed the world...
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We need a culinary ethos that comes to terms with industrialized food...
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A newly unified “food movement” is poised to revolutionize the American diet...
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Mood disorders and a lack of omega-3s...
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The Ocucaje Desert holds some of the most important fossils in the world—and Roberto Cabrera is standing guard...
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How can we achieve meaningful legislation on climate change when not even a president who says he is committed to change will lend a helping hand?..
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Nuclear power plants have a life expectancy of about 40 years. Many U.S. plants are near the end of that span …
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A new report suggests that there is wiggle room in the criteria that allows the environmentally friendly buildings to be unhealthy on the inside....
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Punk rocker John Joseph’s new book on vegetarianism is called Meat Is for Pussies …
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These amazing machines are stretching the limits of muscle-powered urban transportation …
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The Urban Assault Ride proves nothing goes better together than bikes, beer, and absurd physical challenges—especially when it's all environmentally friendly...
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“I’m going public with my challenge to primpy lawns,” writes Reggie McLeod in his editor’s note in the July-August Big River magazine …
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What’s the most ridiculously wasteful plastic product or packaging you’ve seen lately? Add it to the Plastic Crap Wall of Shame …
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The riders who show up for the the Tour de Fat bicycle parade are a wildly eclectic bunch. Here are some profiles in pedal power ...
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OK, all you outdoorsy people: How green is your gear? Chances are, not very green at all…
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It turns out there is a species of dandelion that produces rubber molecules...
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Globally, the IT industry emits about the same volume of greenhouse gasses as the world's airlines...
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The next time a cranky person mocks your reusable bags or dismisses your low-flow showerhead, here’s an intriguing little retort...
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Think of it this way: When you’re on your iPhone, the tap is running…
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Writer Wendell Berry is offended that the University of Kentucky is naming a new dorm for basketball players the Wildcat Coal Lodge in order to please coal-friendly donors…
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We might need to readjust some of our most treasured notions of comfort, Stan Cox suggests in the book Losing Our Cool …
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Ecological Internet is the most radical green group you’ve never heard of, flying below the radar but achieving major successes. Besides, its founder invented blogging...
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A BP station owner says that if you’re pissed off at BP, “just quit driving.” …
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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is starting an energy revolution in Los Angeles and helping the city kick coal consumption for good....
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A handful of forward-drinking California wineries and breweries that are harnessing waste and by-products to power their production....
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The developers behind a multibillion-dollar project in Toronto are addressing a different kind of historical remnant: the stigma of mental illness....
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City officials in Toronto are in the process of building a new breed of bird-friendly structures....
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Johann Hari’s Nation article touched a nerve among green groups, especially those cast in an unflattering light....
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ENDANGERED: Biodiversity on the Brink by Mitch Tobin (Fulcrum)...
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Corruption has destroyed America’s mainstream environmental groups....
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If the BP oil spill were a practice drill for an even larger environmental disaster—say, out-of-control climate change—we’ve failed the drill…
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The truth about diet drinks and artificial sweeteners...
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The woman behind the anticonsumerist viral video phenomenon The Story of Stuff has a new target in her sights: the carbon-trading shell game known as cap and trade…
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Novella Carpenter feeds her farm animals with food salvaged from the dumpsters of organic groceries...
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The term “has become so widely used that it is in danger of meaning nothing,” according to a thought-provoking essay from Orion...
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Researchers have discovered a scent that big cats find nearly irresistible: Obsession…
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It’s like a long-running, beloved TV drama is coming to an end as the owlets raised by webcam star Molly the barn owl grow up and leave the nest—and hardcore viewers are having a hard time dealing with the transition...
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The oil giant Chevron has subpoenaed director Joe Berlinger and the nearly 600 hours of raw footage he shot for the environmental film documentary Crude. The case could have a chilling effect on feisty filmmakers…
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You don't need to have a green thumb to appreciate this cozy place for plants built from busted windshields...
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An interactive website allows you to see BP's sprawling slick overlaid on your hometown, or anywhere else in the world...
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The carp’s PR problems begin with its inelegant, harsh-sounding name. So why not rename it?...
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High Country News has interactive graphic about the contents of a gray whale’s stomach....
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After telling pregnant women to limit their seafood intake, nutritionists are now saying the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids could outweigh the risks of mercury...
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The rainforest is a recurring theme in lots of green-themed children’s literature—yet many publishers of these same books are using paper that contributes to the destruction of rainforests…
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In 10 years, advertising sustainability will be like an architect getting up in front of a room to “proudly proclaim how his buildings didn’t fall down”…
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It’s the time of year when many people reach for their sunscreen—but take a look before you squeeze that tube. Some sunscreens may actually encourage skin cancer growth, and others make bogus claims…
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Ecologist Sandra Steingraber expresses big, substantive ideas with clarity, simplicity, and resolve...
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A Google Earth program that takes the BP oil spill on a magical journey around the world....
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Greenpeace wants you to re-design BP’s logo....
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A journalist travels to Louisiana for a look at the spill and finds herself in a web of PR flacks, angry law enforcement officials, and spill workers....
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