Green Options

Detroit tops the list of most miserable cities in the U.S., according to a new compilation by Forbes. The conclusions are based on traffic, Superfund-site data, crime, weather, income tax rates and unemployment. The list also includes Stockton, California; Flint, Michigan; New York City; and Philadelphia.

Photo courtesy of Gyre via Wikimedia Commons.

Thunderstorms and tornados have been pounding the southeast USA over the past 12 hours. I woke this morning and found my aunt fretting over her television. She told me that my hometown was ducking for cover because a rotating storm cell was coming in fast; the Weather Channel mentioned Chattanooga by name. At 7am, I knew that most of my family was still asleep. I called home and gave them a heads-up.

Growing up in the southeast we were very familiar with summer thunderheads and tornado drills. At school we practiced ducking for cover in cinderblock hallways and were vaguely aware of the language of dangerous weather. Tornado warnings meant nothing at all; tornado watches were almost as distracting at school; air raid sirens were rare but frightening. Almost everyone had a distant “cousin” who had seen a real tornado.

The first snows in memory drifted softly through the eastern part of Baghdad this Friday, falling on Shiite as well as Sunni houses. For these hours of snowfall, no violence was reported and no mortar shells flew. Baghdad was blanketed in a wintry peace.

An NBC local journalist reported hearing the delight in his niece’s voice as she woke him up to look at the view. He writes, “It was much more beautiful than can be described; a scene I have not seen before in my lifetime in Baghdad. … I thanked God for granting Iraqis the chance to watch the snow falling and I prayed that God will bring peace, happiness, success, and love in each white pure piece of snow.”

If you know where to look, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Website is a rich resource for anyone interested in all things Earth: from the fragile ecosystems of the U.S.’s 13 marine sanctuaries to the latest on which natural or man-made disasters are wreaking havoc on different parts of the globe.

Knowing where to look is absolutely key, because much of NOAA’s most fascinating information lies

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Editor’s Note: This week’s post from Lighter Footstep reveals how to stay cool when it’s oh-so-hot. Five Unusual Ways to Stay Cool, by Chris Baskind orginially appeared on July 13, 2007.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the heat is on.

There’s no doubt summer is here — and with it, the perpetual quest to stay cool. For those of us interested in sustainability, the thought of huge summer cooling bills (and all the greenhouse

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MTYH: Cold weather, especially unseasonably cold weather, undermines the concept of climate change.

FACTS: "Global warming" is a problematic phrase for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the belief that cold weather somehow invalidates the concept of a global climate crisis. Climate change skeptics are quick to suggest that instances of winter storms (especially when they coincide with activities aimed at addressing "global warming") are evidence that climate change science is

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