Sounding Smarter

At the Climate Summit in Paris, Leonardo DiCaprio delivered a powerful speech about the dangers of global warming. Afterwards, Leo got into a private jet, flew to one of his several mansions and spent some time chilling on a giant yacht. Coca-Cola said on Friday that it may have to close some bottling plants in India if the government…

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EPA Increases Mandate For Ethanol

This independently owned ethanol plant near Plainview, Neb. takes in 27 million bushels of corn and produces 76 million gallons of ethanol each year. (Photo: Grant Gerlock | Harvest Public Media)

The amount of ethanol blended into the U.S. fuel supply will go up under new rules issued Monday. In releasing the details of the Renewable Fuel Standard, the policy that sets the amount of biofuels oil refiners must blend into the fuel supply, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it planned to continue to increase the…

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What Is The Carbon Footprint Of A Typical Thanksgiving Dinner?

The traditional Thanksgiving Day meal might be a belt-buster, but it won't bust your carbon footprint score. (Credit: Jack Amick | Flickr CC)

Mike Berners-Lee may not be an expert on the American Thanksgiving. A native of the UK, he’s never actually had the pleasure of experiencing one. But as one of the world’s leading researchers on the carbon footprint of—well—everything (he even wrote a book subtitled “The Carbon Footprint of Everything”), he’s plenty familiar with the impacts of…

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Farmers school themselves on soil health to revive dying dirt

Several Oklahoma farmers wander through a field of broad-leafed cover crops during a state Conservation Commission workshop in Dewey County in western Oklahoma. (Photo: Logan Layden | Harvest Public Media)

Generations of tilling and planting on the same land have left the nation’s soil in poor shape. And if farmers don’t change the way they grow crops, feeding the future won’t be easy. As farmer Jordan Shearer from Slapout, Okla., puts it, “we’re creating a desert environment by plowing the damn ground.” Taking a toll…

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Cargill Executive Says Climate Change Threatens Food Production

Climate change is real and must be addressed head-on to prevent future food shortages. That’s the message Cargill Executive Director Greg Page delivered Monday night to an audience at Kansas State University in Manhattan. “Climate change is not a particularly popular subject in much of the heartland,” he said. “But at Cargill, we have come to believe…

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