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Sustainability

Chart Sources: Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L., Randers, J. and Behrens III, W.W. (1972)

Looking Back on the Limits of Growth

Forty years after the release of the groundbreaking study, were the concerns about overpopulation and the environment correct?

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Is it Too Late for Sustainable Development?

Dennis Meadows thinks so. Forty years after his book The Limits to Growth, he explains why

Since 1999, Richard and Judith Lang have found countless ways to turn their huge collection of beach debris into extraordinary art.

Making Beautiful Art out of Beach Plastic

Artists Judith and Richard Lang comb the California beaches, looking for trash for their captivating, yet unsettling work

Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner rallied the community to stuff plastic bottles with trash. In all, the Guatemalan students turned 8,000 bottles into building materials.

How to Turn 8,000 Plastic Bottles Into a Building

Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner demonstrates how she turned trash into the building blocks for one community’s revival

The ocean's boundless energy (von Jouanne near Oregon's Otter Rock Beach) could furnish up to 6.5 percent of U.S. electricity.

Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?

Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea

Architect rendition of the green addition to Frank Lloyd Wright's First Unitarian Society Meeting House.

A Green Addition to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Meeting House

Architects of the First Unitarian Society’s new eco-friendly addition find inspiration in the ideas of original architect Frank Lloyd Wright

Photovoltaic panels are ideally suited to remote locations, as in this island community in Denmark, where the infrastructure required to connect to a centralized power grid is prohibitively expensive or too destructive to the natural landscape.

Energy Saving Lessons From Around the World

The curator of an exhibit at the National Building Museum highlights case studies of community involvement in energy conservation

Tom Casten (right) is chairman and his son Sean is president and CEO of a company called Recycled Energy Development (RED) that is installing a heat-recovery system at West Virginia Alloys.

Converting Energy Waste into Electricity and Heat

Energy recycling wiz Tom Casten explains how to capture power that goes up in smoke

The Smithsonian Institution is taking many steps to ensure a greener future.

A Greener Smithsonian

In an Institution-wide pursuit of a greener future, researchers and engineers are furthering the cause of energy sustainability

Dr. Edward Arnett (in the orange vest), a scientist with Bat Conservation International and his bat-finding labrador retriever accompany plant manager Chris Long at the Casselman Wind Power Project in Pennsylvania.

Can Wind Power Be Wildlife Friendly

New research aims to stop turbines from killing bats and birds

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Rebuilding Greensburg Green

Everyone assumed this Kansas town was destined to fade away. What would it take to reverse its course?

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Q&A - Ed Begley, Jr.

Actor and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. talks about living green

Bottles washed up on a beach

The Trouble with Bottled Water

Elizabeth Royte reflects on the backlash against commercializing a natural resource and responds to reader comments

A Thirsty Nation

What can you do to reduce water consumption?

Carbon Blob Eats US!

What can you do to reduce water consumption?

Household items made of various types of plastic

Cut Your Use of Plastic, Plastic, Plastic

Recycling isn’t enough

A schematic of modern thermohaline circulation.

Expand Your Eco-Influence

What can you do to reduce water consumption?

Kitchen with stove and oven of a Roman inn (Mansio) at the Roman villa of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany

Green Your Kitchen

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Bamboo Steps Up

An ancient plant becomes a new sensation

Doug Fine

Doug Fine, Journalist, New Mexico

How an ambitious experiment in ecological living led to a goat pen

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