Environment

Make Freddie and Fannie Go Green

Brent Blackwelder & James S. Henry : Banks & Banking

Don't just bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: require them to start building environmentally responsible homes.
Dump the Junk

Annabelle Gurwitch : Humor

It takes a lot of work, but it's possible to go green. Start with stopping your junk mail.
Bush's Last Chance on Climate

Janet Redman : George W. Bush

At the G-8 Summit, he can help bear the brunt of climate damage caused by the developing world. But don't hold your breath.
Talking Points for an Energy Crisis

Nicholas von Hoffman

Now that rising gas prices and plummeting sales of gas hog vehicles has gotten everyone's attention, let's talk about a long-term plan.
The Creep of Things

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow : Non-Fiction

Two new anthologies explore the virtues and occasional shortcomings of Bill McKibben's quest for environmental salvation.
Human Ecology

Mike Davis : Gap Between Wealth & Poverty

As human actions change the planet in irreversable ways, will human bonds suffer irreversable damage, too?
Oil Change

Nicholas von Hoffman : Oil

Forget change you can believe in and start dealing with the changes coming at you as fast as the price of fuel makes its way skyward.
What Will the Next President Do About Climate Change?

Mark Hertsgaard : Global Warming & Climate Change

Senate Republicans in denial about global warming blocked a vote Friday on the Climate Security Act, setting the stage for how the next President will address the Earth's most pressing issue.
Capitol Climate Change

Mark Hertsgaard : Congress

The debate over the Climate Security Act reveals a lot about how the next Congress--and the next President--will address the most urgent issue facing humanity.
This Brave Nation: Environmental Visionaries

Brave Nation : Video

Carl Pope and Van Jones discuss the issues and movements that have informed and inspired their lives and work.
Earth at 350

Bill McKibben : Global Warming & Climate Change

Atmospheric CO2 has spiked to 385 parts per million. Roll that back to 350, and we may still live and thrive.
The New Geopolitics of Energy

Michael T. Klare : US Foreign Policy

The Pentagon has now placed resource competition at the center of its strategic planning.
Running on Empty

Mark Hertsgaard : Global Warming & Climate Change

The era of cheap, plentiful oil is just about over. Now what?
How Green Is Your Collar?

Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello & Brendan Smith : Labor

Labor leaders and environmentalists meet to explore how to make green jobs good jobs for American workers.
A Green Corps

Bill McKibben : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left

The New Deal brought with it programs that served not only the good of the people and the economy but also the environment. We need that now more than ever.

2007

A Precious and Painful Vision of the Future

Al Gore : Al Gore

We have everything we need to address the environmental crisis, save perhaps political will. But political will is a renewable resource.
The Dialectics of Revolution... Uh, Recycling

Alexander Cockburn : Economics

Looking askance at a practice widely supposed to be a pretty good idea.
Mexico Floods, America Shrugs

Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez : Mexico

Massive floods cause widespread devastation; while other nations rush in with aid, Mexico's closest neighbor has barely responded.
As the World Burns

Tom Engelhardt : Global Warming & Climate Change

Uncomfortable questions nobody wants to raise about the worldwide drought.
Confronting the Global Timber Barons

James North : Agriculture

From a church in a rugged rural parish in Honduras, Father Andres Tamayo leads a grassroots movement to protect dwindling timberlands. Bills introduced in the US Congress might help save the forests.
Environmentalism With a Social Conscience

Joliange Wright : Poverty

At the eighteenth annual Bioneers Conference, environmentalists and social activists are creating alliances that allow the poor to share the promise of a greening America.
Rapture Rescue 911: Disaster Response for the Chosen

Naomi Klein : California

Gone are the days of equal protection. Intense natural disasters like the California wildfires are being met with a new model: privatized disaster response.
The Fight to Save Congo's Forests

Christian Parenti : Environmental Activism

A history of colonial neglect and endemic corruption has unleashed a lawless logging binge in the heart of Congo's massive woodlands.
Christian Parenti: Congo Diary

Christian Parenti & Laura Hanna

The Nation's international correspondent journeys deep into the heart of the Congo Basin woodlands to see how a massive logging boom is decimating the world's second-largest tropical forest.
Beyond 'Green Shopping'

Jerry Mander & John Cavanagh : Clean Energy Technology

Don't believe the hype that "clean coal," "clean nuclear power" and biofuels will solve the environmental crisis.
A Bronx Tale

Tracy Tullis : Environmental Activism

From Providence to Los Angeles and even the Bronx, urban rivers that were polluted and even paved over are being restored.
Religious Leaders Challenge a Polluter

Sara Shipley Hiles : Peru

A delegation of church leaders traveled to the US, calling on corporate mogul Ira Rennert to clean up the smelters that are poisoning the children of Peru.
Watch Your Foodometer

VideoNation : Food & Nutrition

Here's a way to consume less oil: Eat locally! Video artist Molly Schwartz traces how far food travels from field to fork.
Lady With a Lawnmower

Donna Schaper : Agriculture

She cuts her lawn slowly with a push mower. I save time, hiring men to run machines, burn gas, kill the ozone. Who's the wiser?
Getting Real About Food

Donna Schaper & Molly Schwartz : Food & Nutrition

Something very strange has happened to food in the richest country in the world: It's fast, but it ain't good. And it travels way too far a distance from the field to your fork.
Baghdad Burns, Calgary Booms

Naomi Klein : Canada

The Iraq War has set off one of the largest oil booms in history--and the race to mine the tar sands of Alberta is heading toward environmental disaster.
Graduates, Close Your Eyes

Tom Engelhardt : Higher Education

A passionate critic of the Iraq War has this advice for the Class of 2007: Be afraid. And look within for answers to all the problems you have inherited.
Better to Be a Chimpanzee

Barbara Ehrenreich : Animal Rights Activism

To qualify for charity, a homeless Austrian chimp has petitioned the courts to be granted human status. If he wins, expect a surge of humans going over to the other side.
Getting the Lead Out

David Rosner & Gerald Markowitz

A landmark decision in Rhode Island holding three manufacturers responsible for lead poisoning is a sign of progress nationwide.
Denial in the Desert

Mike Davis

Abrupt climate change is rapidly turning the American West into a desert. But a culture in denial continues rampant suburbanization, fueled by the delusion that our water supply is inexhaustible.
Green Politicians, Real and Fake

Nicholas von Hoffman : Global Warming & Climate Change

Some political leaders spin fantasies about how to deal with global warming. Others, like Al Gore and London Mayor Ken Livingston, are prepared to deal with the ugly truth. Who do you believe?
Eco-Injustice in Paraguay

Jessica Weisberg & Benjamin Brown : Agriculture

A child dies after being enveloped by toxic pesticides on a soybean mega-farm, and two landowners are found guilty of homicide. Four years later, they still haven't paid the price for the crime.
Killer Weather Ahead

Mark Hertsgaard : Global Warming & Climate Change

The good news on the latest global warming report: Political leaders can no longer ignore it. The bad news: It's probably too late.
American Dream, Downsized

Andrew Lam : Housing Activism

In the world's increasingly crowded cities, personal space is shrinking--and so are options for personal happiness.
Mutiny for the Bounty

Mark Hertsgaard : Pollution

We can't survive without oceans, but you wouldn't know that from the way we treat them.

2006

Big Win for Enviros

Mark Hertsgaard : Electoral Politics

America's environmentalists won big in the midterm elections. But can they make real progress on climate change by 2008 and beyond?
A New Idea Grows in Alabama

Mark Winne : Government Programs

Poverty, race and obesity have a lot in common. In Alabama an underfunded federal program addresses the problem by providing fresh produce to low-income residents and seniors.
Return to Chelyabinsk

Mark Hertsgaard : Energy

A G-8 plan to ramp up nuclear energy is defended as a necessary response to global warming. But the nuclear waste it generates will hurt people and the planet.
Unnatural Disaster

Ari Kelman : San Francisco/Bay Area

Three new books reappraise the massive earthquake of 1906, which was felt across an area of 400,000 miles and leveled much of San Francisco.
CA Leads on Climate

Mark Hertsgaard : California

California's global warming initiative shows how far ahead the state is compared with the federal government. But it also reveals how America lags behind the rest of the world.
Honey, We Killed the Planet

Nicholas von Hoffman : Oil

As the generation of power brokers over 40 continues to blow off global warming, our dependence on a waning supply of oil will create a miserable future for their children and grandchilden.
Life in a Post-Carbon World

Nicholas von Hoffman : Oil

If we are to survive and prosper in an oil-short world, we must not only think outside the box--we must get rid of the box. We must abandon the long-held idea that growth is the path to achieve every national goal.
The G-8's Risky Nuclear Embrace

Mark Hertsgaard : Global Warming & Climate Change

As leaders of the world's richest nations gather in St. Petersburg to craft a global energy security strategy, they're poised to endorse a major expansion of nuclear power. Bad idea.
Atrophy of the Well

LiAnn Yim : Emerging Writers

Few of us can now imagine a world without freshwater, but look to the future, when the scarcity of this most basic commodity will profoundly change our lives.
Wake-up Call

Brie Cubelic : Emerging Writers

By adopting the principles of natural capitalism, America can regain its sanity and reverse the reckless use, overuse, waste and destruction of our natural resources.
Heat Wave

Peter Canby : Non-Fiction

As the planet warms and global catastrophe beckons, what changes are we willing to make to adjust to a brave new world? Tim Flannery and Elizabeth Kolbert seek answers in two provocative new books.
A Thirst for West Bank Water

Fareed Taamallah : Middle East

Israel's "convergence" plan will maintain control over most of Palestine's water supply--dimming hopes for peace and a viable Palestinian state.
For a Sane Energy Policy

: Oil

There is no piecemeal solution to the gas price crisis. It's a systemic sickness that goes to the root of the American way of life: big cars, big oil, big business and sprawl.
FEMA Braces for Another Storm

Bryan Farrell : George W. Bush Administration

With hurricane season approaching and another Bush crony at the helm of FEMA, a few restive lawmakers are seeking real reform for the storm-tossed agency. Whether they will succeed is another story.
Don't Blame Environmentalists for Malaria

Sonia Shah : Health & Disease

Tina Rosenberg is wrong to argue in the New York Times that environmentalists who fought to limit the use of DDT have contributed to the worldwide spread of malaria.
Quail in War and Peace

Alexander Cockburn : Dick Cheney

Bobwhite quail have little to cheer about these days, their numbers depleted and habitats ravaged by hunters like the Vice President and his pals.
Coming Clean and Green

Raul Grijalva : State of the Union

Rein in political and business interests that degrade the environment; pass the Apollo Energy Act to provide incentives for clean technology.
Green Power

Mark Hertsgaard : Germany

The Green Party fell from power in recent German elections, but Greens continue to be the party to watch, a progressive influence on the world's third-largest economy.

2005

The Wonder and Horror of 2005

Rebecca Solnit : Peace Activism

In the gloom of post-election 2004 few people, if any, could have anticipated the wild surprises of 2005. Focusing on three unforeseen developments of the past year, a meditation on how life has changed in unexpected ways.
New Orleans Blues

: Housing Activism

If New Orleans is to reclaim its greatness, the scope of the solution must match the scope of the problem. The city could become the nation's classroom by re-engineering levees, responsibly building neighborhoods and schools and repairing the environment, but time is running out.
Apollo Now

William Greider : Sustainable Development

Industrial society is on a collision course with nature. The devastation of New Orleans is a metaphor for what can happen next to us all. Will America decide to reshape the future in positive terms, or sit back and wait for the inevitable destruction to occur?
In the Shadow of Disaster

Ari Kelman : Sustainable Development

Faced with the challenge of rebuilding, New Orleans seems stuck in the mud--not just mired in the muck caking the city but also trapped by centuries of policy mistakes, especially the fantasy that it can be separated from its surroundings.
An E-Cycling Nightmare

Emily Lodish : Pollution

E-cycling used computers to the Third World may sound idealistic, but in reality it's just a new way to dump toxic waste.
Hurricane Gumbo

Mike Davis & Anthony Fontenot : Social & Economic Rights

The Cajun and Creole folks of Ville Platte, LA, learned long ago not to rely on the government for help. It the wake of hurricanes they launched a homemade rescue-and-relief effort to save their community.
Global Storm Warning

Mark Hertsgaard : Global Warming & Climate Change

Scientists universally recognize the devastating effects of global warming, including its possible role in creating Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It's time for skeptics to listen up before another devastating storm hits.
Devastation in Galveston (1900)

Texas

More than 7,000 people perished in a hurricane that swept the Texas coast on September 13, 1900. In two unsigned dispatches, The Nation described the scene. September 13 and September 20, 1900, issues.
Left Behind: Bush's Holy War on Nature

Chip Ward : Religious Fundamentalism

Americans care about the environment, but the Bush Administration clearly doesn't. Blame it on Republican ideology and the apocalyptic religious sensibilities of his political base.
The Big Easy Dies Hard

Christian Parenti : Urban Issues

At first glance New Orleans looks like a cross between a giant conceptual art installation or the set of a cold war disaster movie.
FEMA: Confederacy of Dunces

Jon Elliston : Conservatives & The American Right

FEMA enjoyed bipartisan praise during the 1990s under President Clinton. By the time Hurricane Katrina roared into the Gulf, the Bush Administration had dismantled it.
Lee Scott's Shiny Green Lexus

Liza Featherstone : Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart's CEO showcases his company's hypocrisy.
Dirty Politics, Foul Air

Rebecca Clarren : Health & Disease