Prisoners Dilemma at COP15 in Copenhagen; Meanwhile in Mei Lin's Kitchen

David Nordfors, 12.31.2009

Founding Executive Director, Research Center of Innovation Journalism, Stanford University

On December 9, world leaders debated global climate in Copenhagen and Obama was in ...

The Earth's Decade

Glenn Hurowitz, 12.31.2009

Author of Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party, environmental advocate

This decade will be remembered and felt for its impact on Nature: the species that were saved and those that were lost; the heating of the planet; the forests cut down and those that continue to provide oxygen to our children's children.

Stimulus, Schmimulus -- We Need Jobs to Build a Sustainable Economy

Charlie Cooper, 12.31.2009

We can return to full employment by creating jobs that lay the foundation for shared prosperity, or we can wait for the captains of capitalism to rescue us under the same trickle-down paradigm that has failed so spectacularly.

Nine Ways Our World Changed During the '00s

Sarah van Gelder, 12.31.2009

Co-Founder and Executive Editor of YES! Magazine

What was the decade of the '00s about? The following nine trends are a snapshot of some of the driving forces we're dealing with now at the turn of the decade.

Sleep Loss in America: The Decade That Didn't Sleep and Why It's Complicated

Qanta Ahmed, MD, 12.31.2009

Board Certified Physician, Internationally Published Author, "In the Land of Invisible Women"

We have been on a roller coaster when it comes to how we now sleep and what a ride we have been on.

The Best News from 2009

Carl Pope, 12.30.2009

Executive Director of the Sierra Club

The last year of the decade may best be remembered for one piece of particularly good news: carbon dioxide emissions from the United States have peake...

Ask Budweiser to Step Down From the Chamber of Commerce

Matthew Filipowicz, 12.30.2009

Comedian, Cartoonist, Satirist

Many companies have quit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its extreme anti-environmental views and actions. Apple has quit. Nike has quit. Exelon ...

Is your phone progressive?

Nathan Havey, 12.31.2009

New Media Communications/Political Consultant, Videographer, Feminist

As we struggle to realize the progressive policies we hoped would finally come to be with the elections of President Obama, we are quickly finding tha...

We Must Support a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth

Pablo Erick Solón Romero Oroza, 12.29.2009

Bolivia's Ambassador to the UN and Copenhagen

The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth could do for our planet what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has done to integrate human decency into countries' legal systems around the globe.

Will Coal Power Plants be the Berlin Wall of the Future?

David Kroodsma, 12.29.2009

Hopenhagen Ambassador and HuffPost's citizen journalist at the UN Climate Change Conference

At the Brandenburg gate, which once sat in "no-man's land" between East and West Berlin, I wondered if, 20 years from now, abandoned coal power plants will be nothing more than museums.

Global Warming: An Organic Future, or No Future

Ronnie Cummins, 12.29.2009

Founder and Director, Organic Consumers Association

Humanity will return to organic agriculture because it is the only farming system that can supply the world with sufficient quantities of healthy food in the emerging era of global warming, erratic weather, declining fossil fuels, and water scarcity.

A Fractured Left Might Not Be Such A Bad Thing

John Odum, 12.29.2009

Publisher, Green Mountain Daily

A progressive break of support for the administration over the health reform bill could be a risky political strategy. But, it could also be quite effective. Just think "divide and conquer."

The Daily Mail's Distracting ChinaHack Theory

Kevin Grandia, 12.29.2009

Managing editor, DeSmogBlog.com

Plots by the Russians in league with the Chinese makes for great headlines, but they do run the risk of drawing attention away from much more plausible theories about who is behind these criminal acts.

Same Sex Marriage, Environment & Jobs: Lincoln Chafee Should Be Rhode Island's Next Governor

Steve Clemons, 12.29.2009

Publisher of "The Washington Note"

Despite his leadership and sensible decision-making, I support Lincoln Chafee for another reason -- for his brave and correct view on same sex marriage equality in Rhode Island.

Village Green: The Year's Top Stories for Sustainable Communities and Smart Growth

F. Kaid Benfield, 12.30.2009

Director of NRDC's Smart Growth Program

All in all, we had a mixture of good, disappointing, and great news for smart growth and sustainability in 2009. Taking a long view that considers where this issue was fifteen or even ten years ago, I remain very optimistic.

Copenhagen and the Commons

Jamil Zaki, 12.29.2009

PhD candidate in Psychology at Columbia University.

Informed, committed nations working together should be able to tap into people's common goal to stave off the effects of climate change, but the leaders at Copenhagen neglected some simple rules for creating such cooperation.

Recycle Your Christmas Tree!

Robyn Griggs Lawrence, 12.28.2009

Editor-in-chief, Natural Home Magazine

Even though most people reuse an artificial tree for up to six years on average, artificial trees would need to be kept for at least 20 years to compete with natural trees on greenhouse impact.

Book Review: Here Be Dragons

Dan Agin, 12.28.2009

Author/Neuroscientist

This book is a grand time-and-space voyage of the imagination, the drift of continents, the appearance and rise and fall and extinction of new species, the human story with all its tragedy and complexity.

The World's Worst: Five Years after the Asian Tsunami

Richard Walden, 12.28.2009

President, Operation USA

The charities' performances ran from reasonably effective in localized areas to downright scandalous in their opportunism to raise money around the tsunami.

The Most Important Investment that We Aren't Making to Mitigate the Climate Crisis

Steve Kirsch, 12.27.2009

Entrepreneur and philanthropist

If you want to get emissions reductions, you must make the alternatives for electric power generation cheaper than coal. It's that simple. If you don't do that, you lose.

We Have All Disagreed to Agree, Now What?

Xiu Min Li, 12.27.2009

China Program Co-Director, Pacific Environment

The vast differences between countries and within the environmental movement are telling as to how COP15 failed to result in a binding agreement. Where do we go from here?