There are so many great things about bananas. In addition to being an important source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium, they’re naturally wrapped, so companies that sell them don’t have to worry about packaging. That is, unless that company is 7-Eleven.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce may actually have a better idea than a cap-and-trade bill for cutting emissions. And, contrary to popular opinion, they do recognize climate change and the need for clean tech development.

As the world warms, how different societies fare in dealing with rising seas and changing weather patterns will have as much to do with political, social, and economic factors as with a changing climate.

For more than a year, a swelling movement of landowners, politicians, individuals and environmental organizations has been pressuring New York State to strongly regulate — or even ban — a natural gas drilling process that could wreak havoc on the environment.

Many green organizations cheered with joy about the potential “change” that newly inaugurated president, Barack Obama, had promised the country. Environmentalists for years have hoped for a day when their issues and voices would be heard and acted upon. But almost nine months into his term, has the president held true to his promises of moving America in a greener direction?

If you have a programmable thermostat, you can automate your heating and cooling systems to save energy when you’re not at home or asleep. In winter, for example, your house can be a nippy 60ºF while you are at work, and then–while you are still boarding the bus for your commute back home–it can automatically move up to a toasty 68º or 70ºF. When you step in the door, the temperature is right where you want it.

Q: I have an otherwise innocent addiction that may be bad for the Earth: scented candles. I love ’em — cranberry votives, cilantro lime pillars, pumpkin spice tapers, lavender floaters, you name it... every time I get within a 10-mile radius of Ye Olde Candle Shoppe, I get heart palpitations. I keep on seeing soy candles around and hearing about how they are "better," but I’m not exactly sure why. Wax is wax, right? Care to fill me in?