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Boston’s Congestion Problem Is Taking a Toll. Is Congestion Pricing the Solution?

On January 29, 2019, the Boston Green Ribbon Commission released the Carbon Free Boston report, detailing a path for Boston to achieve carbon neutrality (no net release of carbon into the atmosphere) by 2050 through vast changes across several sectors. Immediately following the presentation, The Boston Herald published an article titled “Carbon Free Boston Panel […]

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When Vanilla Became More Expensive Than Silver

In 2013, the price of one kilogram of natural vanilla was $20. Five years later, it was over $600, more expensive than silver. 80% of the global vanilla supply is generated on the island of Madagascar, and 70% of Madagascar’s people rely on vanilla for their income. Every vine must be hand-planted and every bean […]

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Why Is Climate Advocate Justin Trudeau Building an Oil Pipeline?

Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline has delivered 300,000 barrels of crude and refined oil per day from Alberta to British Columbia since 1953. But when its owner, Kinder Morgan, proposed in 2013 to construct a second pipeline to run alongside the original one to deliver an additional 600,000 barrels per day, controversy arose. First Nations groups, […]

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Plastic Straw Bans: A Tricky Place to Start

In 2015, while conducting field work in the waters of Costa Rica, Texas A&M graduate student Christine Figgener found a male sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged up his nose. Figgener’s team removed the straw in hopes that the turtle would survive. The video of the incident went viral, sparking an international movement to […]

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Solar Roadways: Revolutionary or Infeasible?

In 2014, Scott Brusaw, an electrical engineer from Sandpoint, Idaho, told the world about his idea to revolutionize energy generation and transportation in a YouTube video called “Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways.” Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie co-founded the company Solar Roadways, intending to replace every road in America with hexagonal interconnecting solar panels, generating clean […]

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Can Revenue From Trophy Hunters Save Zimbabwe’s Elephants?

Last November, President Trump announced the reversal of a 2014 ban on elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Following backlash from animal rights and conservation activists, Trump placed the reversal on hold two days later “until such time as I review all conservation facts.” African elephants remain an endangered and dwindling species – the […]