Matthew Dakotah is conducting a series of interviews with global environmental leaders for The Daily Beast. An award-winning journalist, he has directed 14 magazine and Web site redesigns and worked at Hearst and Emap. As vice president, group editorial director of Homes & Lifestyles Publishing, he initiated coverage of sustainable development and secured contributors from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Architectural Digest and Princeton. Follow Matthew on Twitter: @matthewdakotah.

In an exclusive Earth Day interview with The Daily Beast, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu defends the Obama administration’s focus on offshore drilling, nuclear power, and big spending on technological innovation.

Not long ago, the electric car was left for dead by greedy special interests. In a new documentary, Chris Paine chronicles its unlikely resurrection.

San Francisco’s mayor discusses the fight for cap and trade, how he nearly derailed GM’s partnership with the city, and why from her deathbed, his mother urged him not to run.

As President Clinton campaigns on Gavin Newsom’s behalf, the would-be California governor shares an ambitious—and controversial—vision for the world’s eighth-largest economy.

Jeffrey Sachs talks with The Daily Beast about world hunger, the development models he hopes to see included when President Obama meets with African leaders Tuesday—and why everyone should quit criticizing Madonna for her Malawi adoptions.

As the High Line’s first season ends, an exclusive interview with the men behind New York’s latest, greatest romance. Plus, VIEW OUR GALLERY chronicling the High Line's genesis.

Virgin CEO Richard Branson tells The Daily Beast he has an escape plan for the end of the world—an environmentally sound spaceship.