Articles by Sarah Laskow

Indigenous Alaskans have no doubt the climate is changing

The U.S. Geological Survey had a novel idea about how to better understand climate change and its impacts: Ask the people most likely to be experiencing it. These researchers asked a group of people from Alaska's indigenous communities what their observations of climate change had been. Their basic response: Everything's all messed up.

Critical List: Congress holds Solyndra hearing; Bill Gates pushes for more clean energy funding

Lawmakers want to talk about Solyndra, its federal funding, and its bankruptcy. Solyndra execs realized that if they don't come to Washington, they don't have to talk about any of that. For good measure they may build a pillow fort to hide in.

Congress is still going to talk about it, of course. And probably use some strongly worded language.

A day before this hearing, Bill Gates and a bunch of other rich guys urged Congress to invest more in clean energy. #badtiming

Google gets carbon offsets from hog poo

In its recent report on the company's carbon footprint, Google said that it offsets its emissions with high-quality offsets. We are happy as a pig in shit about that. Which is appropriate, because here's one example of what that means: energy powered by pig poop.

The company has invested in a North Carolina project which collects the methane from the waste of 9,000 hogs. A power plant burns the methane to create power for 35 homes a year.

Return of the Monster Tar Balls!!

The scariest horror movies end with a hint that the killer or monster, though defeated, isn't dead and will rise again. With tropical storms sweeping through the Gulf, coastal residents are finding that zombie residues of the BP oil spill are coming out of their lairs to re-terrorize beach-goers, boaters, and the fishing industry. Tides hustled up by tropical storms are bringing oily residues, tar mats, and tar balls onto the beach. It's as bad as it sounds. Check out these pictures that NRDC collected — if you want to brave the sight of oozy, giant, black tar creatures.