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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 […]

Mass Movements in the USA Today

What does it take to build a popular movement that has a chance of succeeding in its objectives? I thought about this a good bit during my recent vacation in the West Virginia mountains. I’ve been personally involved in several mass movements over the course of my adult life: the draft resistance and anti-Vietnam war […]

The city of the future is already here

Ever see those signs that say, “If you lived here, you’d be home by now”? They’re usually affixed to urban revitalization projects located near mass transit hubs (of course you’re commuting another hour to your sprawl development in the ‘burbs when you read it). Those projects represent a part of the city of tomorrow, but […]

CAFE still saves money

Sam Smith at the Progressive Review was taken by a press release that shouted “New gas MPG rules will cost over $6000 per car.” Mostly Sam knows that a basic rule of good journalism (as opposed to what the corporate media does) is think a bit about such press releases and looks for the flaws. […]