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Umbra on power strips

Q. Hi Umbra, Around the table at lunch today, my colleagues and I were discussing ways to conserve and be more energy efficient. We’ve all heard that “dormant” appliances still draw energy. We’ve all been told we should plug some of our electronics into a power strip that we can easily flip off when they […]

Groups band together to save Sherwood Forest

After the daily grind of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, a current-day Robin Hood might want to find a hideout other than his beloved Sherwood Forest, which has shrunk to less than 0.5 percent its historical size. Merry men (and women) in more than a dozen British organizations are banding together […]

Organic food found to be healthier, jobs board debuts on Grist, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Dropping (Fatty) Acid This Rocks! And It Came to Pass Suffer the Little Children What Is This Feeling We’re Feeling? Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Seven Days, Seven Ways Giuliani on the Issues Strip Tease

Iraqi catches shark, blames America

... in Iraq, a shark was found 160 miles from the sea in an irrigation canal that joins the Euphrates River. "I believe America is behind this matter," said the Iraqi who netted it ...

... the seasonal growth of water hyacinth disrupted local fishing activities along the coast of Lagos in Nigeria. The plant can grow rapidly enough to choke waterways overnight ...

... Turkish academics decided to establish the country's first rehabilitation center for sea turtles ...

... salmon fishing on Oregon's Rogue River was poor this season ...

... the New England Fishery Management Council decided not to end its scallop season on Nov. 1, a move usually made to protect sea turtles off the eastern U.S. coast ...

... an ocean quahog clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland was thought to be the oldest living creature ever discovered. The clam was nicknamed Ming in reference to the Chinese dynasty that was in power at the time of its birth 405 to 410 years ago. The clam died when the researchers counted its rings ...

Friday music blogging: Against Me!

A long day of speeches, hearings, and post-hearing drinking has left me exhausted, but never fear, Friday Music Blogging fan(s), I won’t let you down. This band, Against Me!, is huge in the punk/emo/whatever scene. Normally I stay far away from that particular genre, but there are rare occasions (see: Fugazi) when a band in […]

Clinton and Gore, fox and hedgehog

Bill Clinton gave the keynote address at the conference. That means I got to see Gore and Clinton within a few hours of one another, and wow, what an interesting contrast. Isaiah Berlin famously divided thinkers into two categories, hedgehogs and foxes. The fox knows many things; the hedgehog knows a lot about one thing. […]

Court ruling may save oil companies billions in royalties

A federal judge in Louisiana ruled this week that oil and gas companies who signed leases for deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico between 1996 and 2000 do not have to pay royalties to the federal government when the price of oil and gas go over a certain threshold. The oil company Kerr-McGee sued […]

Grist to appear on the ‘Today’ show

We're pleased as punch to let you know that NBC's Today show has invited Grist to be part of its special "Ends of the Earth" environmental coverage the week of Nov. 5. While Matt, Al, and Ann venture to exotic locales like Antarctica, the Arctic, and the equator, we'll be hangin' with Meredith in Rockefeller Plaza, offering up green-living hints from our new book, Wake Up and Smell the Planet. Keep an eye out for us on Monday, Nov. 5, and Tuesday, Nov. 6, between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., on NBC.

And hey, while we're allowing ourselves to preen a little: did you happen to notice our recent appearances in Time and Newsweek? Yep, we're blushing, but we're also really excited that our site and our book are making a splash.

Haven't gotten yourself a copy of that book yet? Buy it today. It makes a good read, a great holiday gift, and a fantastic doorstop.

Fisheries Service releases yet another Northwest salmon recovery plan

The third draft of a federal plan for protecting endangered salmon and steelhead in the Northwest’s Columbia and Snake Rivers does not propose breaching the four hydroelectric dams that block the waterways, frustrating activists who have long lobbied for the dams’ removal. The National Marine Fisheries Service says the plan for helping the salmon is […]

The vampire slayer goes green

Buffy is back in Climate Progress. I'll take any excuse!

Turns out former Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar is green, or at least green-tinged, like those monsters she used to fight.

She brings her own reusable bag to Whole Foods. Why? "So I get a discount." Okay so the millionaire actress is cheap frugal. You got a problem with that?

She also rides a bike, to the annoyance of her neighbors:

Not only is it bright pink with the bell and streamers and the whole thing, but it has Hello Kitty tires. Every time I leave my apartment, my doorman just shakes his head.

Interestingly, some of the demons on Buffy spin-off Angel were also green, figuratively speaking. For the sake of its vampire employees, the Los Angeles offices of Wolfram & Hart employ "necro-tempered" tinted glass, which "filters out the constituents of sunlight that are dangerous to vampires while leaving the brightness intact. Plus it's thirty percent more energy efficient!"

And you thought TV was a vast wasteland.