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Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Subsidies Must Be One of the Major Outcomes of Rio+20
What if I told you that governments around the world were spending almost $1 trillion dollars a year to subsidize activities that are driving global warming? What if I told you that the leaders of the major countries had committed to phase-out these fossil fuel subsidies in 2009 but they hadn’t really done much to […]
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Friday music blogging: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
The song “Home,” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, was the best song of 2009. Most of the world didn’t discover it until 2010, when for some reason it started being used in a ton of TV shows and commercials. However, lucky listeners to my 2009 mix were ahead of the curve. Basically cooler […]
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It’s summertime, and energy is on our minds
As the days get longer, more and more Americans are cranking up their air conditioners and turning on their fans. Meanwhile, their energy costs continue to climb—and they’re feeling it. In a poll last week, nearly 8 out of 10 people said saving on energy costs was deeply important to them—more important than issues like the […]
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Cabo Pulmo: The reef so nice, they saved it twice
The Mexican government announced today that a proposed development just outside a national marine park would be cancelled.
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Rio: Let’s unleash the power of people back home
Since the first Rio Earth Summit, the global environmental picture has gotten even more grim. Our mistake, argues longtime conservationist Spencer Beebe, was believing that top-down solutions could save the planet.
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EPA’s Boiler MACT Is an Economic Growth Opportunity
The new EPA air toxics standards, or “Boiler MACT” will tighten the pollution allowances for industrial (e.g., non-utility) coal boilers, and are widely and consistently being criticized as a threat to a still-fragile economy. This criticism is coming from the usual corners (Inhofe, US Chamber of Commerce, etc.). Meanwhile big-name engineering firms are turning out […]
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40 years of environmental diplomacy — what do we have to show for it?
On the eve of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, we look back at four decades of global conservation efforts and take stock of the successes and the failures. Well, mostly the failures.
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New Soot Pollution Standard Benefits Americans, Saves Lives
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a draft pollution standard for soot that will reduce one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution, saving thousands of lives and preventing tens of thousands of heart attacks every single year. Unfortunately, it is sure to come under attack by big polluters, so we will need […]
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Sex is better with energy efficiency
Something must be done about the abysmal marketing of energy efficiency. Never has such a big energy story received so little love. In the pie-throwing contest that passes for energy dialogue in our political culture, Solyndra gets the ink, while the biggest story by far goes unreported. Keystone dominates the headlines, while new fuel economy […]
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How we build stuff at Grist
This is an introduction to how we build our web products here at Grist. I hope you find it interesting whether you work at Grist, are just curious, or want to decipher some of the jargon involved.
