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The Best Way to Celebrate Earth Day

It’s that time of year again. Earth Day. The 2010 edition marks the 40th anniversary. If Congress wants to score some environmental and economic “green” for the planet, it should declare its intention to let the states address climate change. More than half the states have climate action plans to reduce carbon that would put […]

Featured Friend: Don “Dr. Doom” Conway-Long

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.  Don “Dr. Doom” Conway-Long “In this broken world, it is difficult to keep one’s head and chin up, […]

Don Blankenship called safety regulators ‘as silly as global warming’

Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The death toll from Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union […]

The hazards of using toxic coal ash for land development

Following the disastrous spill of a billion gallons of coal ash waste from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston plant in December 2008, poorly regulated coal ash impoundments like the one that failed have landed in the public spotlight. But other methods of disposing of coal ash waste have gotten less attention — even though they […]

Friday music blogging: Gigi

I grew up listening to my dad’s vinyl. (Kids, point your iThingies here to learn more!) He was a fan of late ’50s and early ’60s Brill Building-style pop — early Beatles, Little Richard, The Coasters, The Everly Brothers, The Shangri-Las, Frankie Avalon, and compilations with names like “At the Hop.” (Kids, a “sock hop” […]

Friday music blogging: Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave’s 2004 debut album, Out of the Shadow, was an immediately memorable mix of bright, melodic indie pop and off-kilter, art-rock time shifts. It made you want to tap your foot, but often made it quite difficult to keep time. It was one of those albums that got better the more time you spent […]

Louisiana environmental racism case gets hearing from Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

For the first time in history, an international human rights body has agreed to review a case involving allegations of environmental racism in the United States. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hear a complaint filed by the New Orleans-based Advocates for Environmental Human Rights (AEHR) on behalf of the people of Mossville, […]

April Fools' Day, suckas!

Domesticated Dogs–Mutualists or Parasites?

Photo courtesy of Dog Tag Art via Flickr This thought exercise was motivated in part by my second reading of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (by Matt Ridley) while on a trip to Argentina. The book covers parasitism’s role in evolution. While in Argentina I noticed the stark difference between […]

Friday music blogging: She & Him, again

She & Him — the indie It band composed of musician/producer/genius M. Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel — have released a follow-up to their 2008 debut, Volume One. They’re calling it … wait for it … Volume Two. When I first FMB’d She & Him, I went on at length about my unseemly crush on […]