On April 22, 2012, the 43rd Earth Day was celebrated. On the same day, Vladimir Lenin celebrated (posthumously, of course) his 142nd birthday, meaning he was born exactly 100 years prior to the first Earth Day. As far as I can tell, this is a coincidence. But some people aren’t […]

Cities have long been considered unsustainable for their excessive resource consumption—Howard Odum famously deemed them “parasites” for not contributing to ecosystem regeneration. However, a growing environmental consciousness, accompanied by an emphasis on local and DIY projects, seems to have inspired citizens to get their hands dirty as “green” projects are […]

Amid the dire tragedy of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, I was completely in awe of the world’s response. We seemed to be throwing every possible resource we could at saving lives and healing wounds. The logistics were challenging, as Haiti is an island country whose infrastructure was largely destroyed. And […]

Is the world better off with cell phones? What about the Internet? These might seem like obvious questions. Sure, the rise of cell phones can be annoying when other people’s conversations disturb our peace and quiet, and the rise of the internet makes it harder for us to shelter our […]

Television shows like Friends and Seinfeld may have inadvertently been among the best things to have happened to the environment over the last few decades. These shows are not about environmental issues. They don’t cause people to want to be environmentalists – at least not directly. Instead, these American sitcoms, […]