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Seattle Grist Reader Party — go get your tickets!

Hey, lemme guess, you got busy with other stuff and forgot to buy your ticket to the Grist Seattle Reader Party, which is taking place (whaaat?) tomorrow. Go get ’em, quick! They’re $20 now, but if you wait and buy them at the door they’re $25. That’s another whole drink you could have had. See […]

Report says EPA not doing enough to protect Mississippi River

The longest river in the United States has been abandoned by the very agency that should be protecting it, says a new report from the National Research Council. A 13-member panel assessed the Mississippi River’s health and evaluated efforts to implement the federal Clean Water Act along the waterway’s 2,300 miles. Conclusion? The U.S. EPA […]

Nobel Prize award and Clinton highlight importance of climate science

This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.

It has been a good month so far for climate science, and a bad month for climate cynics. It has been an especially bad month for those on the Irrational Right who, for whatever reason, cannot stand the thought that Al Gore has emerged so gloriously from the grave in which they thought they had buried him forever.

"So now 'Algore' will join Yasir Arafat among the list of noble Nobel peace laureates," Rush Limbaugh lamented. By awarding Gore the prize, Limbaugh said, the Nobel committee has "rendered themselves a pure, 100 percent joke."

A week earlier, Hillary Clinton issued her "Agenda to Reclaim Scientific Innovation." As president, Sen. Clinton says, she would ban political appointees from "unduly interfering with scientific conclusions and publications," tell agency heads to resist political pressure that threatens scientific integrity, and protect whistleblowers who tattle on ideologues who mess with science.

Thus, the Bush Administration suffered two loud and public slaps in the face for its suppression of science at a time when the world needs it like never before.

States considering “toxic toy” bans

Lawmakers in nine states are working on legislation that would ban toys and child-care products that contain phthalates, toxic chemicals used as plastic softeners. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is talking about pushing a similar bill on a national level. They’re all following the lead of legislators in California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed a […]

Severe drought in U.S. Southeast leaves Atlanta water supply in question

A nasty drought in the U.S. Southeast that began in early 2006 has local politicians sweating and meteorologists and climatologists predicting more of the same. The situation is particularly notable around Atlanta, Ga., where the water source for some 3 million people, Lake Lanier, could dry up completely in as little as 90 days if […]

China will relocate millions more people for Three Gorges Dam project

China may force another 2 million to 4 million people out of their homes over the next 10 to 15 years to make room for the reservoir building up behind the Three Gorges Dam — and that’s in addition to the 1.4 million citizens who have already been relocated. The “world’s biggest hydropower project” is […]

Blog Action Day

Happy Blog Action Day! To honor this occasion, we here at Gristmill are going to spend all day blogging about the environment.

California OKs bill to ban phthalates in kids’ products, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: The Thrill of It, Al Planet of the AEP Strike Up the Banned Report Barred Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Tancredo on the Record Sow What? Directed Buy Into the Wild

Reaper on the Prius

CW has a new show called Reaper, about a slacker whose parents sold his soul to the devil, who he now has to work for. It’s genial enough, funny in bits. I like to keep an eye on how Priuses and hybrids are used in television, and this one was amusing:

California OKs bills to ban phthalates in kids’ products, and lead bullets in condor country

In an orgy of legislative activity, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed and vetoed a bunch of environmental bills this weekend. Among the most significant bills that got the Governator’s OK is one banning the chemicals phthalates in toys and other products intended for children 3 years old and younger. “These chemicals threaten the health […]