Photo: Oxfam International

Worth the price of admission

As we reported in a special series this fall, the green-campus movement took off across the country in 2008. From January's Focus the Nation climate teach-in to December's Poznan climate conference, not to mention the powerful role of da yoots in November's election, students are creating -- as USA Today put it -- a "youthquake" of climate activism. They're cramming for eco in less wonky ways, too, through endeavors like green frats and bike-share programs. As one Yale student we interviewed said, "the energy and the passion and the copious amounts of free time ... can all really help."

Oh, for PETE's slake

This was the year that America's love for bottled water finally began to dry up. Tests conducted by the Environmental Working Group and others found chemicals and other contaminants in leading brands. Thanks in large part to a campaign launched in late 2007 called Think Outside the Bottle, the U.S. Conference of Mayors resolved in June to phase out bottled-water spending. Calls for bottle bans came from college campuses, touring bands, and London Mayor Ken Livingstone. Restaurants organized a tap-instead week to benefit Unicef. And amidst all the H2O-pla, the growth in bottled-water sales dribbled to a fraction of its former self.

Is nothing seacred?