Chris Turner Blog

Can we calculate the true cost of a manta ray?
By externalizing the costs of human industry, we've pushed the world's coral reefs to the brink of extinction. It's past time to put a price tag on the infinite value of biodiversity.
Why would a Hawaiian coffee shop import bananas?
On Hawaii's Big Island, a Starbucks outlet sells Ecuadoran bananas. It's a trivial example of the way the twisted logic of global business creates its own unsustainable reality.
To end the age of fossil fuels, try learning to speak its language
Climate activists are about to launch two weeks of protest against a pipeline from Alberta's tar sands to the Gulf Coast. They'd do well to remember there are not just companies but people and communities on the other side of the argument.
Is oil from Alberta really climate's linchpin?
Some of the world's most prominent climate activists are protesting a proposed pipeline that would bring Alberta's unconventional oil to the Gulf Coast. Is this the make-or-break point for global action on climate change?
Want to get Big Government off your back? Embrace clean energy
Renewable energy is a powerful force for the decentralization of Big Energy (and Big Government). It's odd that it isn't more popular in supposedly 'radical' anti-government circles.
Believe it or not, there's one great idea up on Capitol Hill right now
Just before D.C. went crazy over the debt ceiling, 25 members of Congress tabled a bill that would revive a remarkably effective solar energy financing program. Does Congress have enough sense left to pass HR 2599?
A few notes on the singular legacy of Ray Anderson, sustainability pioneer
Ray Anderson was among the first corporate leaders to not just talk sustainability but make it the bottom line of his business. He passed away this week, leaving a legacy as green and inspirational as any in modern history.
Forget the Dow, here are the numbers that mattered this week
Follow the Dow, and the economic forecast looks pretty black right about now. But in the midst of the old economy's failure, a new one continues to shine brightly on the horizon.
What makes a building ugly? The failure to become a place
The world's starchitects may create impressive icons, but cities are made from great places — which is why old European shopping streets, not Frank Gehry's wavy towers, are the heart of Düsseldorf, Germany's most ambitious design city.
Style rules as solar power goes mainstream
In cleantech, innovation often speaks of high-tech jargon in the future tense. A new generation of solar panels uses existing technology and a present-tense vocabulary of style and convenience to bring green energy to the mainstream.

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