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Friday music blogging: Andrew Bird and the Muppets

An album of classic Muppets songs covered by indie rock artists ... sounds like an idea out of a dorm room bong session. And by that I mean awesome.

Just shut up and love this bicycle mustache

"Oh, there's no way I'm that much of a hipster," you say. "Sure, I like to bike to my community garden to pick up some herbs to go with the eggs from my rooftop chicken coop while listening to Dave Roberts' latest music recommendation, but ironic facial hair for a bike — it's just a […]

Mapping Solar PV CLEAN Contracts in the U.S.

The price of solar is dropping fast, opening new opportunities for community-scale renewable energy across the country.  But despite the improving economics and tremendously sunnier skies, the United States lags far behind Germany in installing new solar power. The biggest difference is policy. The U.S. has two major federal incentives (a 30% tax credit and […]

Jailhouse Rock: Activists Score Victory Over Police in Tar Sands Pipeline Fight

If you want to know just how determined activists are to stop the proposed tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to Texas, listen to this: Last Saturday morning, August 20th, more than 50 activists were arrested in front of the White House. They were handcuffed, stuffed into blistering-hot paddy wagons, and informed that they would […]

Finish Strong at the White House September 3!

The actions against the Keystone XL pipeline down at the White House are a wonderful thing. Over the last five days 275 people have gotten arrested. When the police/whomever else tried to intimidate our movement by holding Bill McKibben and 52 others for two days and nights in pretty abysmal jail conditions over the weekend, […]

Visually arresting: Live from the tar-sands protests [SLIDESHOW]

Hundreds of activists (including Bill McKibben and Daryl Hannah) have been arrested in front of the White House since Aug. 20. They’re calling on Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, which would run from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s the story so far.

Koch Industries lobbying puts over 100 million Americans in danger

Recent Greenpeace analysis of lobbying disclosure records reveals that since 2005, Koch Industries has hired more lobbyists than Dow and Dupont to fight legislation that could protect over 100 million Americans from what national security experts say is a catastrophic risk from the bulk storage of poison gasses at dangerous chemical facilities such as oil […]

Why we should democratize the electricity system — part one

A serialized version of ILSR‘s new report, “Democratizing the Electricity System,” part one of five. The 20th century of electricity generation was characterized by ever larger and more distant central power plants.  But a 21st century technological dynamic offers the possibility of a dramatically different electricity future: millions of widely dispersed renewable energy plants and […]

Mr. Obama: XL + Tar Sands = Bad Political Equation

Three years ago, I spent a number of weekends going door to door in Virginia urging people to vote for our President.  In that campaign I found a sense of pride, a sense of excitement, a sense of energizing virtue. This weekend, I spent a good chunk of time training to do civil disobedience at […]

Featured Friend: Andy Charlton

Each month, we showcase one of our beloved Friends with Benefits — folks who have donated to support our work. Want to take your relationship with Grist to the next level? Just donate any amount to join the fun.  Andy Charlton “First time donor, long time reader. I’ve always loved that when I open my email in […]