Nothing Encapsulates the False Promise of Capitalism Like Plastic Nothing Encapsulates the False Promise of Capitalism Like Plastic
Individual good intentions can only carry us so far when the global recycling system is stacked in favor of the oil industry.
Apr 18, 2023 / Nanjala Nyabola
My Parents Collect Cans for a Living My Parents Collect Cans for a Living
When people ask about my family now, I tell them not with embarrassment or shame but with pride.
Dec 7, 2021 / StudentNation / Jessica Yauri
Want to Slow the Climate Crisis? Don’t Use Single-Use Plastics. Want to Slow the Climate Crisis? Don’t Use Single-Use Plastics.
The fossil fuel industry is dependent on our plastic dependency. We can starve it.
Apr 23, 2020 / Covering Climate Now / Annie Leonard
Zero Waste Remains a Dirty Business Zero Waste Remains a Dirty Business
New York and Los Angeles are reforming their waste-management systems, but there’s still a ways to go to clean up the sanitation industry’s labor standards.
Jul 27, 2015 / Michelle Chen
Someone Has to Sort Your Recycling and It’s a Disgusting and Dangerous Job Someone Has to Sort Your Recycling and It’s a Disgusting and Dangerous Job
When the green hype overpowers industrial safety, workers pay the price.
Jun 24, 2015 / Michelle Chen
This Is My Brain on Paper Towels This Is My Brain on Paper Towels
My little green guilts.
Apr 22, 2014 / Blog / Leslie Savan
Climate Change Is the Tragedy of the Global Commons Climate Change Is the Tragedy of the Global Commons
It’s not like women’s rights or prison reform. There are too many people making money out of feeding our insatiable demand for more.
Apr 22, 2014 / Blog / Katha Pollitt
The Change Within: The Obstacles We Face Are Not Just External The Change Within: The Obstacles We Face Are Not Just External
The climate crisis has such bad timing, confronting it not only requires a new economy but a new way of thinking.
Apr 21, 2014 / Feature / Naomi Klein
The Dialectics of Revolution… Uh, Recycling The Dialectics of Revolution… Uh, Recycling
Looking askance at a practice widely supposed to be a pretty good idea.
Nov 29, 2007 / Beat the Devil / Alexander Cockburn
Toxic Recycling Toxic Recycling
Recycling electronics using US prison labor is a booming business, with a captive workforce paid pennies per hour for dangerous work that is largely unregulated. The human and en...
Nov 3, 2005 / Feature / Elizabeth Grossman