November/December 2008 Issue

Table of Contents

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the challenge

Can We Save the Planet and Rescue the Economy at the Same Time?

Al Gore on America’s next moon shot.

By Al Gore

The Seven Deadly Deficits

What the Bush years really cost us, and how President Obama can get the economy back on track.

By Joseph E. Stiglitz
Illustration by Guy Billout

turning point

The Most Important Number on Earth

Now that we’re way past the carbon tipping point, it’s time to freak out—and get to work.

By Bill McKibben
Illustration by Sam Weber

Are Shorter Showers Beside the Point?

We did the math.

By Steve Aquino and Gary Moskowitz

A Glossary of Sustainability Lingo

We decode green lingo, from “upcycling” to “LOHAS.”

By Elizabeth Gettelman

lose carbon now

Diet for a Warm Planet

The secret to cutting carbon? A dieting support group.

By Julia Whitty
Illustration by Katy Lemay

Your Top 20 Econundrums—Solved!

Disposable or cloth diapers? Netflix or video store? Our green advice guide goes way beyond paper v. plastic.

By Ben Whitford
Illustration by Mark Allen Miller

Ecogeek Deathmatch: Ed Begley Jr. v. Bill Nye, Science Guy

Which Hollywood do-gooder has the greenest crib? A no-holds-barred fight to the furnished.

By Kiera Butler

industrial revolution

The Truth About Green Jobs

When they’re coming, who will get them, and how to prevent their outsourcing.

By David Roberts
Photo Collage by Tim J Luddy

What About the Dirty Jobs?

Why green-collar gurus should stop condescending to the brown-collar crowd.

By Chris Lehmann
Illustration by Jonathan Twingley

How Ford Lost Focus

For a decade, Bill Ford Jr. talked up fuel economy while his company peddled gas-guzzling SUVs and monster trucks. Is it too late for the automaker to shift gears to alternative fuels?

By Fara Warner

The Science Project

How to kick-start clean tech.

By Chris Mooney
Additional reporting by Sheril Kirshenbaum
Illustration by John Hersey

When Tree Sitters Heart Lumberjacks

America’s most hated loggers are trying to hug change. Does the Lorax need a new BFF?

By Josh Harkinson

Big Green Brother

When Wal-Mart tells its workers to live and breathe sustainability, is it (a) creepy, (b) innovative, (c) greenwashing, (d) all of the above?

By Katharine Mieszkowski

Greens Gone Wild

Who says skivvies, sex, and booze can’t factor into the sustainability equation?

By Elizabeth Gettelman

Ripe for the Pickens

Has legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens really gone green?

By Josh Harkinson

capitol improvements

Earth to Washington

What will it take for DC to wake up to global warming?

By David Corn
Illustration by Steve Brodner

Let’s Go Europe

The EU embraced sustainability. Could Brussels’ green economy sprout in America?

By Mark Schapiro
Illustration by Jean-Francois Martin

The Great Persuader

Can Obama walk his talk?

By Kevin Drum

MacGyver Without Borders

Five cool ideas for saving the world on a shoestring.

By Nikki Gloudeman

Cats v. Dogs: Which Pet Is Greener?

Tallying your best friend’s carbon pawprint.

By Ben Whitford

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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