Neil Wagner

Phileas Fogg, protagonist of Jules Vernes' Around the World in Eighty Days made his trek with trains and steamboats ... and more trains and steamboats. While Fogg's perseverance in taking just eighty days to round the globe is praiseworthy, his hearty use of planet-warming...

A trend is defined as "a prevailing tendency or inclination." See if the following strikes you as a trend: The warmest January-April period on record was part of the warmest 12-month period on record, which was...

A former meat-packing plant, once part of Chicago's legendary Union Stockyards, is trading in its stun line for a stunning new line of thinking. The Plant is billed as a vertical farm that operates using a plethora of sustainable practices. Used...

Energy efficiency has often been called the "low-hanging fruit" of our battle against climate change. An appropriate metaphor, as Climate Progress's Joe Romm points out, because energy efficiency "grows back."

"The efficiency resource never gets exhausted because technology keeps improving...

A recently rediscovered 1981 paper, written by NASA atmospheric physicist James Hansen and others, has been analyzed and found to be impressively accurate about the course of climate change since its publication.

The 10-page paper (available at this link),...

A recent study found that West Antarctic ice shelves are fracturing at an ever-faster rate, thus losing hold of the rocky walls that slow their flow out to sea. Bottom line: our warming globe is depleting the South Pole's ice cap faster...

Frances Beinecke and Robert Lutz recently teamed up to write an op-ed piece for the Chicago Tribune. That might not sound so remarkable until you consider the fact that Beinecke is the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and...

United States Senator James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe has long been a vocal denier of climate change. He has compared concern about climate change to the Third Reich's Big Lie, and the EPA to the Gestapo....

Simpler times.

We now identify global warming as a trigger for climate change (see last week's "What on Earth?") and...

While the terms "climate change" and "global warming" are often used interchangeably, scrutiny of the two phrases reveals a cause-and-effect relationship between the two. Global warming refers to an increase in our planet's average temperature, while

The basic premise behind man-made climate change is a simple one: Earth's atmosphere naturally contains greenhouse gases that keep our planet warm enough to be liveable. When we burn fossil fuels, though, we increase the amount of greenhouse...

A common concern about taking action against climate change is the idea that government mandates will muck up the works: hamper business, create bureaucracy and destroy the economy. A new study posits that we can turn that whole concept on its head...

Climate change spares no one. Not even the adorable. Baby harp seals, for instance, can't catch a break. After centuries of looking over their shoulders to spot folks who plan to eat them or wear them, the cute little...

"Too big to fail," became a four-word cautionary tale with the advent of our current global economic crisis. That same tale could be told about our energy needs. Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of modern civilization. They are also the biggest threat...

Construction statistics are often used as indicators of our economy's well-being. Unfortunately, construction can also do its fair share of harm to the environment. But there are encouraging signs that business opportunity and climate-friendly technology don't have to be...

Climate-friendly consumerism is becoming increasingly viable. Everything from toys to cell phones are offered in more sustainably-produced options. And, of course, once we have stuff, minimizing waste reduces our carbon footprint even more.

But owning stuff, inevitably, leads...

We read that renewable energy has surpassed...

When I first had the idea for today's comic strip, I had envisioned largely the same punchline as you see above. But the cause of the reindeer's ire was different -- a special diet, courtesy of Santa, that would reduce their flatulence....

When it comes to climate change, the 2000s are a dynasty. 2011 is being recognized as the tenth-hottest year on record. 2010 tops the charts -- tied (by some estimates) with 2005. When 2009 came to an end, it was...

Parents have always taken pride in telling kids how hard things were in the "good old days." That meme is the ultimate weapon when kids have the audacity to think they have it tough. Bill Cosby famously described how his father...