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Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns resigns

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns is resigning, President Bush announced today. He is expected to run as a Republican for an open U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska, which is being vacated by retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel (R).

Extent of sea ice in Arctic sets record low, keeps on melting

The extent of sea ice in the Arctic has already hit a record low this season, the gloomiest, if not doomiest, since satellite records began in the 1970s. The world will likely have to wait a month or so for the final numbers to be released since sea ice typically stops melting by the end […]

Siberian permafrost melt threatens to accelerate climate change, reveals mammoth bones

Some large sections of permafrost in Siberia have been thawing out in the last few years due to climate change. If the thaw continues apace (or speeds up) researchers worry that much more organic matter — leftover plant and animal leavings from thousands of years ago, like mammoth dung, that never fully decayed due to […]

New York state investigates power companies, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: The Spillage Voice Swap Meat Congress Sees the Lighting on the Wall Sass Is in Sessions The Investor Class Owns the Means of Reduction Seeing Red Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Brood Awakenings Hog Futures Gilled Complex Not So Fast

Pope lauds Montreal Protocol, Vatican aims for carbon neutrality

The Montreal Protocol turned 20 this weekend — and you forgot to get it a gift, didn’t you. As nearly 200 nations convene this week to discuss the protocol, which has been successful in spurring an international phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals, it has been lauded by no less a person than Pope Benedict XVI, who […]

Hey …

… did you hear that Al Gore won an Emmy? After the Nobel Peace Prize, what’s left for the guy to win?

Army Corps must halt work on destructive Missouri river project

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was ordered this weekend to cease work on a Mississippi River flood-control project in Missouri that would have cut the river off from its last remaining floodplain, devastated tens of thousands of acres of wetlands, and, um, not controlled flooding. Ordering the Corps to remove any part of the […]

DNA testing helps to settle claims of chemical exposure

Think you’ve been exposed to toxic chemicals on the job? Hand over your hair. A new DNA testing technique can help verify or refute claims of workplace poisoning by exposing a healthy person’s DNA to the chemical in question to see how the genes are affected, then comparing to the employee’s DNA. It seems like […]

Parenting photos and advice from Grist readers and staff

Click photo to launch slide show. To help kick off our series on parenting and health, we asked Grist readers and staff to send us photos of their little ones, along with advice on how to weave a green outlook into everyday life. Here’s what a few of them had to say — share your […]

Friday music blogging: Stephen Fretwell

I know next to nothing about Stephen Fretwell aside from his amusingly-appropriate-for-a-guitarist name. I stumbled across his album a couple weeks back and it’s been growing on me. He’s your basic Dylanesque singer-songwriter — the nearest analogue that I can think of on the current scene is Josh Ritter. If you like pleasant acoustic tunes, […]