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Public Disservice Announcement

New EPA Ad Mocks Car Energy Efficiency Automobile fuel efficiency is for losers! This message brought to you by, believe it or not, the U.S. EPA. A new series of public service announcements from the agency feature a woman, Suzanne, praising the benefits of energy-efficient home furnishings and appliances. So far, so good. However, the […]

Japan-Ease

Japan Weathers High Oil Prices With Energy Efficiency The high price of oil has many countries — including the U.S. — casting about for ways to lower the cost, increase domestic production, or find alternative energy sources, lest economic ruin ensue. But according to some analysts, one country that’s almost entirely dependent on foreign oil […]

Dispensing With the Peasantries

Electricity Comes to Rural China China’s economy is exploding, with consequences that may only be understood decades from now. In addition to massive hydropower ventures — like the $25 billion Three Gorges Dam — the government is encouraging smaller hydro projects, which are bringing electricity to southwestern rural villages where life has scarcely changed for […]

Don’t Hiatus Because We’re Beautiful

Grist on a Two-Week Publishing Hiatus Astute readers will have noticed our abject failure to say anything even remotely funny in today’s Daily Grist and wondered, “What’s up?” What’s up is, our lil’ staff badly needs some R&R. Luckily, that’s just what we’ll be taking for the next two weeks. We’ll be back — keeping […]

Un-Cheneyed Melody

Supreme Court Sends Cheney Energy Task Force Case Back to Lower Court In a clear political victory for the White House, today the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a ruling that would have forced Vice President Dick Cheney to turn over all the records from his energy task force. In a 7-2 ruling, the Supremes […]

Jolly Good, Guv’nors

Western Governors Adopt Ambitious Renewable Energy Goals Western governors agreed this week to a resolution calling for development of renewable energy in the region, a plan they hope will stabilize energy costs for consumers and make the region an exporter of energy — nay, the “Saudi Arabia of wind and solar energy,” according to the […]

America’s Next Top Model

New Climate Model Predicts Faster Warming Global warming may be happening faster than previously estimated, with temperatures rising 4.7 degrees instead of 3.6 degrees in the coming century — a seemingly small difference with potentially enormous consequences. This week, the National Center for Atmospheric Research released version three of its Community Climate System Model, created […]

Off With Their Headlights!

France to Impose Green Tax on Big Cars A new green road tax unveiled by the French environment ministry would provide rebates for those who buy small, fuel-efficient cars by taxing buyers of large, gas-guzzling cars and trucks. The scheme would divide vehicles into five categories based on how much they pollute. The middle category […]

Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic?

Toxic Pollutants in U.S. Atmosphere Up by Five Percent (or More) The U.S. EPA reports that the volume of toxic pollutants released into the atmosphere increased by 5 percent in 2002 — only the second increase since 1988, when the EPA started keeping track, and the largest — but according to enviro groups, even that […]

Thai a Yellow Ribbon

Prominent Environmental Activist Killed in Thailand Shortly after testifying before a parliament subcommittee on corruption about attempts by “influential locals” — a common Thai term for corrupt officials and business owners — to build a private resort on public land, prominent Thai environmentalist Charoen Wadaksorn was killed this week by two gunmen on a motorcycle. […]