The United States has a topsoil problem. About 75 percent of it is gone, primarily because the large, single-crop farms that dominate American agriculture rely on chemicals and synthetic fertilizers to produce their harvests, depleting natural soil systems in the process. John-Paul Maxfield ...
Humans are an increasingly urbanized species; for the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. And that, of course, means more buildings, which means more concentrated energy usage. Many cities are trying to limit carbon emissions by ...
Past the debate around Solyndra and tension around how, exactly, government should support green tech, another energy story is emerging. The combination of new emissions regulations and cheaper alternative energy sources has caused, occasionally, rather large-scale shifts toward more sustainable energy production. Case ...
Bees. More specifically, African Bees. They’re probably not the first, or even the fifth thing that comes to mind when you think of poverty alleviation. Yet these little insects are causing a stir, and the raw honey they produce is playing a role ...
Solyndra Green Jobs Scandal This Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing about a failed $528 million government loan to Solyndra, a solar equipment manufacturer that recently filed for bankruptcy. During the investigation, e-mails surfaced suggesting that the White House ...
On September 11, 2011, Americans turned their eyes to New York City, and the vacant space in the skyline where the towers that fell 10 years ago would still be. That patch of cityscape was dedicated as National September 11 Memorial, a tribute ...
By now, the field of social entrepreneurship is an established career path, and MBA programs all over the country have launched tracks dedicated to its study. But another field of work, also geared toward environmental and social sustainability, has flown under the radar: ...
Didn't have time to read the news this week? Every week, we report on the conversations surrounding the big issues in the world of social entrepreneurship and change. (this week by Rachel Signer and Blair Hickman)
By now, most people have heard of "fair trade." But the real-life, on-the-ground effects of the model are often overlooked. So here's a quick breakdown of what fair trade really means.
#f**kyouwashington The top American news this week: the debt ceiling. Mother Jones produced one of the best explainers I found, and the Huffington Post has a nice live-blog documenting the unfolding events. But in a nutshell: the U.S. government is out of money, ...