Santa Brings the Gift of Hope from Paris Climate Summit
A nifty graphic from our resident image master, to wish you a happy holiday
Damn Dams — The Dirty Secret of Hydropower
Hydropower — touted as clean and green —
is actually neither. Environmentalists say it devastates lives, destroys rivers, produces methane which contributes to global warming, and fuels corruption. Calling it a “false solution” to combat climate change, they are urging governments to pull funding for massive dam projects, particularly in tropical regions. Here’s why. (VIDEO)
Exxon Feeling the Heat Ahead of Paris Climate Conference
As all eyes turn to the Paris climate talks, ExxonMobil finds itself in hot water. A series of disclosures reveal that the oil giant not only knew about the risk of climate change in the 1970s but slashed funding for further research when it became clear that there was not going to be any regulation on the issue for a long time.
GMO Makers, Their Puppets in Academia, and The New York Times
Are GMO (genetically modified organisms) foods good for you and the environment? Whom should you go to for answers? Scientists necessarily know more about such stuff than the rest of us — but be careful. The ones you are most likely to hear from are actually propagandists paid for by the biotech industry. And from what you can read about it in the mainstream media — especially The New York Times — the industry’s grip on academia and the media is much tighter, wider, and deeper than you would ever guess.
How Solar Energy Saved a School–and Could Save a Lot More
With Iowa’s ahead-of-the-pack presidential caucus upcoming in February, anything that happens in the Hawkeye state is fraught with political significance. Except when it’s not. What occurred in the tiny village of Crawfordsville (pop. 264) may not swing an election, but it just might get solar power skeptics to think again about the sun’s rays as a practical source of energy.
Why is Pope Friends with This Man?
Will the Pope’s courageous stand on the environment extend to challenging those who hypocritically associate themselves with it?
Shocker Court Ruling: Cut Carbon Emissions to Save Humanity From Climate Change
For the first time ever, a court has ordered a government to protect its citizens from climate change. A court in the Netherlands has mandated carbon emissions cuts of 25% by 2020. Could a legal strategy work in the United States also—to finally drive meaningful action?
Last Secret of the Atom Bomb
The search for a dirty-bomb in New York City has uncovered a history of radioactive contamination… and a lingering mystery from the Manhattan Project.
Paid Not to Drill? Not So Fast
In 2010, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa became the first national leader in the world to rule out drilling for oil in a major petroleum field for ecological reasons. Less than five years later, however, he has backtracked on his promise, and the future of the environmentally important Yasuni National Park is up in the air, as the debate rages on.
Can Big Coal Pull Off Another Dirty Trick?
Big Coal, legally mandated to clean up mining-operation messes left behind in several states, could end up sticking taxpayers with the bill for its dirty deeds.
WhoWhatWhy Exclusive: Our Homeless, Explosive Radioactive Waste
A formidable glitch occurred just as the United States prepares to embark on a multi-billion-dollar program to restart production of nuclear weapons. An explosion at an underground waste dump in New Mexico—complete with some sky-high kitty litter—is highlighting the dangers inherent not only in the weapons of mass destruction themselves but in the deadly wastes their development has left over the past 75 years. Here’s WhoWhatWhy’s exclusive report.
Oil Billionaire Attempts to Silence University Quake Researchers
When the Oklahoma Geological Survey released a statement indicating that an increase in seismic activity was likely caused by humans, one billionaire called for the termination of scientists responsible for the report.
Obama’s Retreat from Green Electronics
Why did the president back away from a commitment that federal agencies use green electronics? Buried in a recent Executive Order on sustainability is recycled rhetoric that undermines long-standing federal policy.
Chevron Making a Killing with Water in California—But at What Cost?
Chevron is selling treated wastewater to California that has been shown to include oil and potentially harmful chemicals. What exactly is in the water used in agriculture is still the oil giant’s dirty secret.
Secret Tapes Reveal Contamination a Big Joke to Big Oil
A 2014 ruling that all but absolved Chevron for one of the worst oil spills in South American history is being challenged in a New York appeals court. Video tapes showing Chevron officials laughing at the environmental destruction they caused in the rainforest—tapes that were not permitted as evidence in the 2014 trial—may be the long-sought “smoking gun.”
Rolling Bombs: Crude-Oil Rail Tankers Threaten U.S. Populations, Environment
A spate of derailments of trains carrying crude oil has hit the U.S. and Canada, and a new report warns that the technology involved is outdated and dangerous – and little is being done to address it. Mary Papenfuss investigates.
Colluders in Crude: The Oily Politics of How the Obama Administration Sided with BP Over the American People
“I am a first-hand witness to the Obama administration’s complicity in putting the interests of a foreign company above and beyond the health and safety of American workers.” Environmental plaintiff attorney Stuart H. Smith, who represented thousands of clients against BP, reveals just how much the administration knew—and tried to cover up—after the largest marine oil spill in history.
America’s Radioactive National Park
Tucked away in last year’s defense bill is a measure establishing the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. It encompasses three sites crucial to America’s wartime entry to the atomic age. Is the new park a monument to death or glorious victory? Paul DeRienzo went to one of the sites to find out.
How Turkey’s Dirty Energy Boom Left 432 Children Fatherless
Turkey’s rush to privatize state assets and mine its natural resources is turning a nation blessed with tremendous clean energy potential into a dirtier one. And it’s not just the environment that’s polluted. James Ryan investigates from Istanbul.
Don’t Touch That Thermostat: 2014 Was Hottest On Record
If you thought it was hot in 2014, it wasn’t just you. Last year was the hottest on earth since the beginning of record-keeping in 1880.