The Rising Costs of Climate Change

Peter Lehner and Cas Holloway at Huffington Post: In acting this week to complete a $60-billion package of emergency aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy in the New York region, Congress came face-to-face with the rising costs that climate change is imposing on the nation.The region badly needs the assistance, and Congress did the right thing to provide it. Sixty billion dollars is a hefty price......read more

Spectacular Sand Drawings by Tony Plant

Since we spotted them on Faith Is Torment last weekend, Tony Plant's awesome ephemeral sand drawings have been popping up all over the 'net. No matter, they're a worth a triple look. Described by Surfer's Path as "[an] environmental artist, photographer and surf creature whose imagination stretches to the far and hidden corners of the coastline," Plant creates massive, swirling installations......read more

Unlikely Conservation Allies

Environmental advocacy generally takes one of two forms. There is the confrontational, in-your-face approach favored by groups like Greenpeace and Earth First, whereby polluters and other eco villains are stood up to, often by force. And then there is the conciliatory, cooperative approach, through which groups with seemingly opposing ideals and motivations work together to find common ground.......read more

House of the Rising Sun

Last month, Bill McKibben (author of "Eaarth") and 350.org tried to get solar panels installed on the White House. They were quietly rebuffed by the White House and we thought that was it. Not so. Yesterday the Department of Energy announced that solar panels and a solar water heater will be installed at the presidential mansion by next spring. The announcement, which comes just in......read more

Rising Tide

As a potential clean energy source, tidal power is as alluring as it is elusive. The consistent daily flux of the tides presents attractive possibilities for the production of reliable, sustainable power, but the hurdles posed by deploying large turbines in the sea are more than a little significant. Still, tidal energy projects, particularly in Europe, are attracting plenty of capital......read more

What is Permaculture?

"Permaculture" is quickly becoming something of a buzzword. But what exactly does it mean? Wikipedia defines permaculture as "an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies." It is a very broad topic, but essentially refers to living sustainably with our environment in every way imaginable. The......read more