Taking Energy Production to the Woodshed

When discussing renewable energy, you’re likely to hear a lot about wind, solar, geothermal and even hydropower. Heck, you’re likely to see the conversation turn to nuclear power (not renewable, by the way) before anyone mentions one of our oldest and…

Distributed Computing, Meet Social Networks…

… social networks, meet distributed computing. Power, meet passion.

I’m a huge fan of both distributed computing networks, which allow users to contribute their unused PC capacity directly to a cause they believe in, and…

Innovation From Crisis Will Save the World

It’s sometimes hard to see it, but these are good times in the course of human history.

The economic crisis, climate change and the most rapid technological advancement since the Industrial Revolution are converging — and with…

World Oceans Day: Will There Be Coral Reefs for Our Children?

When I was in fourth grade, my family took a vacation to Hawaii to visit my aunt and her family, who had been relocated to the islands for work. This was at the height of the Magnum, P.I. series, so you can imagine my…

Professional Sports Will Never Be Green (But We Can Try)

Last Sunday night, after Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger took a knee, putting the cap on one of the more exciting Super Bowls in recent memory, an obligatory commercial flashed across my screen.

Apple Does It Again (and That’s Not a Good Thing)

First, a bit of full disclosure:

• I work exclusively on two Apple laptops (an iBook G4 at home and a MacBook Pro here at the office);
• I carry an iPod with me virtually everywhere I go; and

Google Earth Earns Its Capital “E”

When Google released its popular — and free — satellite imaging and mapping tool Google Earth in 2006, it enabled users to travel virtually from New York to Papau New Guinea via the software’s flyover interface and zoom down to the island’s jungles and beaches for a…

Climate Change: What Do You Want to Save?

If you’ve followed the climate change debate over the last several months — indeed, even over the last year — you may have noticed something odd: Taking action on climate change is no longer about protecting nature. Taking action is now about how climate…

Can the Suits Save the World?

As anyone who follows The Nature Conservancy’s Twitter feed knows, I spent much of yesterday attending Carbon TradeEx in an event that can be best described as a carbon markets wonkfest.

Celebrities: They’re Green…Just Like Us!

Celebrities are the conscience of America. They tell us how to vote, help set our foreign policy and provide guidance on health care decisions. Without celebrities, we would have no moral compass.

We Don’t Need Earth Day. We Need An Earth Generation.

Does Earth Day matter as a serious day of environmental action? Yes, in as much as St. Patrick’s Day matters as a serious exploration of Irish culture. There’s nothing wrong with these days, but to consider either of them serious — or…

Save Knut or Save the World?

Which is the better strategy: concentrating on one specific species, like polar bears, or working on a global conservation effort that aims to protect large swaths of the world’s major habitats?

How to Tech Responsibly

Twitter user K_M_Anderson asked the nature_org Twitter account recently: “Love new tech but worry that servers and bandwidth are coal-powered? taking open space? any info re enviro impact? how to tech responsibly?”

Crowdsourcing the Birds

In honor of the groundbreaking new report, The State of the Birds, this week has been unofficially dubbed “Bird Week” on Cool Green Science. (See our migratory bird expert Dave Mehlman’s posts on the report.)

Is Tweeting Against Climate Change Accomplishing Anything?

“Dad, what did you do way back when to help solve climate change?” “Well son, I tweeted my face off about it. I really did. I included some bit.ly links to petition sites, I updated my Facebook status almost every day and I even…