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Jimmy Carter speaking in front of a row of solar panels.

Energy Is Central to American Politics. That All Started with Jimmy Carter.

We have yet to solve the problems that Carter confronted head-on as president.
by Gautama Mehta via Grist on January 9, 2025
Horses standing next to a car.

What Extremely Muscular Horses Teach Us About Climate Change

You can’t understand the history of American energy use without them. A new visual history puts them in context.
by Robinson Meyer via The Atlantic on December 8, 2020

How World War I Ushered in the Century of Oil

When the war was over, the developed world had little doubt that a nation’s future standing in the world was predicated on access to oil.
by Brian C. Black via The Conversation on April 3, 2017
Jimmy Carter examines solar panels to be installed at the White House.

Jimmy Carter, Green-Energy Visionary

As President, he told us that we needed to shift to solar power. We should have listened to him then.
by Bill McKibben via The New Yorker on December 29, 2024
The COVID virus as the desert sun.

How Covid Shaped Climate Policy

Five years from the emergence of the disease, the world — and the climate — is still grappling with its effects.
by Tim Sahay, Kate MacKenzie via Heatmap on December 18, 2024
Bill Clinton meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, in the White House.
partner

How Qatar Became a Major Middle East Power Broker

The history behind the country's role as a key American ally that also maintains warm relations with Iran and others.
by Allen Fromherz via Made By History on September 30, 2024
Still from 'Chinatown' showing Jack Nicholson taking photo.

“Chinatown” at 50, or Seeing Oil Through Cinema

On the 50th anniversary of “Chinatown” and the beginning of the end of petromodernity.
by Michael Rubenstein via Los Angeles Review of Books on July 8, 2024
"Addicted to Cool" spelled out with air conditioning units and ducts.

Addicted to Cool

How the dream of air conditioning turned into the dark future of climate change.
by Philip Kennicott via Washington Post on September 21, 2023
Front cover of Rendered Obsolete: Energy Culture and the Afterlife of US Whaling.

Underground Whales: An Energy Archaeology

On the history of whaling and how we understand energy consumption.
by Jamie L. Jones via UNC Press Blog on September 13, 2023
Jimmy Carter at a podium against the backdrop of an American flag.

Is Jimmy Carter Where Environmentalism Went Wrong?

Carter’s austerity was part of a bigger project. It didn’t really have much to do with environmentalism.
by Kate Aronoff via The New Republic on April 18, 2023
Carter at the Dedication of a New Solar Water Heating System for the White House Roof.

Unheralded Environmentalist: Jimmy Carter’s Green Legacy

In 1978, Carter protected 56M Alaskan acres, tripled wilderness lands, championed conservation, and foresaw climate risks, leaving a lasting green legacy.
by Kai Bird via Yale E360 on March 23, 2023
Chuquicamata in Chile

The Transformative and Hungry Technologies of Copper Mining

Our own world is built from copper, and so too will future worlds be.
by Robrecht Declercq, Duncan Money via Edge Effects on March 16, 2023
Nuclear power plant cooling towers billowing steam.
partner

Nuclear Meltdowns Raised Fears, but Growing Energy Needs May Outweigh Them

Catastrophic accidents at power plants have heightened fears about the safety of nuclear energy, but it's getting renewed attention as a way to fight global warming.
via Retro Report on January 5, 2023
Abandoned and burned-out buildings in the East Village in 1986.

Edifice Complex

Restoring the term “burnout” to its roots in landlord arson puts the dispossession of poor city dwellers at its center.
by Bench Ansfield via Jewish Currents on January 3, 2023

Puerto Rico Can Blame Its Total Blackout on Predatory Companies and Poor Decisions in Washington

Hurricane Fiona hit the island as only a Category 1 storm. But thanks to bad management, the electrical grid immediately collapsed.
by Kate Aronoff via The New Republic on September 20, 2022
Row of power lines

It Wasn’t Just Oil Companies Spreading Climate Denial

The electricity industry knew about the dangers of climate change 40 years ago. It denied them anyway.
by Robinson Meyer via The Atlantic on September 7, 2022
Illustration of a coal stove with the roof of a house, as if the whole house is a furnace.

When Coal First Arrived, Americans Said 'No Thanks'

Back in the 19th century, coal was the nation's newfangled fuel source—and it faced the same resistance as wind and solar today.
by Clive Thompson via Smithsonian on July 5, 2022
Students and professor at a 19th century furnace in the Jefferson National Forest.

In Jefferson National Forest, Trees are Survivors

"The tallest trees at Roaring Run remember sending down taproots even as the furnace stones were still warm. Desecration is not ironclad."
by Chelsea Fisher via Edge Effects on June 16, 2022
A diagram of early bicycle wheels.

Going Nowhere Fast

The strange past and even stranger future of the stationary bicycle.
by Jody Rosen via The Atlantic on May 18, 2022
Farmers harvest wheat near the village of Tbilisskaya, Russia, July 21, 2021. That nation’s farmers produce nearly a fifth of world wheat exports.

How High Energy Prices Emboldened Putin

Rupert Russell’s new book shows how the financialization of commodity prices worsens volatility and destabilizes geopolitics. It couldn’t be more timely.
by Tim Sahay via The American Prospect on March 22, 2022
Fruitcake

The Magnificent History of the Maligned and Misunderstood Fruitcake

The polarizing dessert that people love to hate became a Christmas mainstay thanks, in part, to the U.S. Postal Service.
by Jeffrey Miller via The Conversation on December 17, 2021
Four soldiers in World War I uniforms pose eating Maillard's Eagle Sweet Chocolate. An eagle is illustrated on the candy bar wrapping.
partner

It Wouldn’t Be Halloween Without Candy. We Have World War I to Thank for That.

Candies of the Halloween season have roots in the sweet treats and real horrors of the Great War.
by Lora Vogt via Made By History on October 31, 2021
A blurry pixilated image of Jimmy Carter on a television screen.

How the Ghost of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency Haunts Everything Biden Says About Supply Shortages

The last from-the-top critique of American overconsumption generated a massive backlash.
by Kevin Mattson via Slate on October 22, 2021
Miners with pick axes sit on rocks.

How Yellowcake Shaped The West

The ghosts of the uranium boom continue to haunt the land, water and people.
by Jonathan P. Thompson via High Country News on July 30, 2021
A couple eating dinner by candlelight in Texas

Experiments in Self-Reliance

Thoreau’s life is a lesson not in self-reliance, but in discerning whom and what to rely on, whether you’re one person or a state of 29 million.
by Jonathan Malesic via Commonweal on February 24, 2021

Sea Shanties and the Whale Oil Myth

Oil companies like to point to the demise of the whaling industry as an example of market-based energy solutions. The reality is much more complicated.
by Kate Aronoff via The New Republic on January 22, 2021

A Brief History of Peanut Butter

The bizarre sanitarium staple that became a spreadable obsession.
by Kate Wheeling via Smithsonian on January 5, 2021
light

The Historical Cost of Light

How difficult was it to obtain artificial light before the 19th century? Well...
by Ilia Blinderman, Jan Diehm via The Pudding on December 1, 2020
Drawings of houses

How Trees Made Us Human

More than iron, stone, or oil, wood explains human history.
by Daniel Immerwahr via The New Republic on December 1, 2020
Person in factory holding a large sack

Minneapolis and the Rise of Nutrition Capitalism

The intertwining of white flour, nutrition science, and profit.
by Michael J. Lansing via The Metropole on October 20, 2020
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