Back from the Dead

We’re on the Verge of Being Able to Revive Extinct Species. But Even If We Could, Does that Mean We Should?

Illustration by Lisel Ashlock, www.liseljaneashlock.com Few creatures have ever existed that can match the sheer weirdness of Australia’s gastric brooding frog. As the name suggests, the amphibian had the strange ability to reproduce offspring in its stomach. The female would release a cloud of eggs, the male would fertilize them, and then the female swallowed the eggs whole. At that point, the female ceased making digestive acids and her stomach became, essentially,…
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by: Jason Mark – Autumn 2013

So Long, Farewell

Remember Peak Oil? Before fracking opened up vast amounts of gas and shale oil, before the protests against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, before BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout, peak oil was one of environmentalists’ chief concerns. Greens said that, at some point soon, crude oil production would decline, forcing a spike in petroleum prices that would fundamentally alter life as we know it. The prediction was at once a warning and…
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by: Jason Mark – Autumn 2013

Fight Over Gas Fracking Moves to the Coasts

Proposed LNG export terminals are the newest front in the battle over the US’s energy future

There is no natural gas fracking occurring in Maryland – the state has a moratorium on the practice – but Mike Tidwell and his Takoma Park-based Chesapeake Climate Action Network have found themselves in the midst of a major gas-related political battle.…
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by: Jason Mark – July 18, 2013

Former Walmart Executive Says Sharing is the New Shopping

A Conversation with Yerdle’s Andy Ruben

The toilet paper roll story was what grabbed my attention. Last month I went to an evening of storytelling hosted by the good folks at an outfit called Waking Star. The program was billed as, “Journeys – Stories of Aha! Moments.” One…
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by: Jason Mark – July 12, 2013

Obama Delivers a Strong Climate Speech Most Greens Will High-Five

What you’ll love, hate, and meh about the president’s climate action blueprint

Well, better late than never. Twenty-five years after NASA climatologist James Hansen warned the US Congress about the threat of global climate change, the US government is making a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the dislocations from extreme…
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by: Jason Mark – June 25, 2013

Atomic Foes Nuked in New Documentary Film

Pandora’s Promise is more hit job than conversation starter

This article has been changed from its original version. An earlier version of this story accidentally shortened a quote from Michael Shellenberger about renewable energy’s need for backup power and didn’t include full accounting about the energy usage of an iPhone versus…
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by: Jason Mark – June 18, 2013

Threatened Species Smoked by Pot Growers

Northern spotted owl and Pacific fisher succumbing to rat poison used by illegal marijuana farms

The story is what you could call, um, an evergreen: As folks have reported here, here and here, illegal marijuana farms on public lands in California often cause serious environmental damage. Tresspass growers, as they are called, have been known to clear…
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by: Jason Mark – June 13, 2013

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