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A good time was had by all

It’s been over a week ago now, but memories of Grist’s D.C. reader party linger on like the stain on my boss Chip’s shirt from where I knocked his "causemo" all over him at the very beginning of the night, in front of several members of our board of directors. (See: How to Get Ahead […]

Are You a Working Assets Customer?

Grist made the list — now we need your votes Can you earn money for Grist with the click of a button? You betcha. Customers of phone-service and credit-card provider Working Assets can go to the company’s voting page and assign maximum points to Grist (we’re in the Education & Freedom of Expression section) — […]

Scent From Above

Professional noses sniff out pollutants in China Got a sensitive schnoz? Your services may be needed in southern China, where air-pollution experts at an environmental monitoring station are training the sharp-nosed to sniff out chemicals in the air. “We have honed our smelling skills from various sources of pollution. It will help in the detection […]

What Role Coal?

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey weighs in on the controversial fuel Coal is the central, vexing question facing anyone attempting to create a 21st-century energy policy. So says Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, who drops by Grist today to lay out his thoughts on the mineral […]

Greatest video of the century?

Or greatest video ever, of all time, in the universe? You be the judge:

Latest victory protects Pacific sea turtles

Endangered leatherback sea turtles migrating from an Indonesian beach to feed on jellyfish off the Pacific coast have one less obstacle to overcome.

NOAA has denied issuance of the special exempted fishing permit required for gillnet boats to operate in an area of coast stretching from central California to central Oregon, during the time critically endangered leatherback sea turtles are feeding there.

Illegal, but they’ll do it anyway

According to the Vancouver Sun, Planktos is planning to continue its scheme to dump iron into the oceans off the Galapagos, even though the EPA has ruled it illegal. The EPA ruled in May that it needs a permit. Planktos CEO Russ George has a simple solution: hire a foreign vessel and fly a flag of convenience.

Ken Caldeira and Chris Field of the Carnegie Institute say that it is impossible to verify whether carbon is sequestrated, and that if it is, the added carbon will contribute to ocean acidification. Via ECT it turns out that as of June 19 Planktos still claims on its website to be using nano-particles of iron rather than regular iron dust. (It is pretty far down, so I suggest you use your browser's page search function.) Planktos has said publicly that they are not using nano-particles. Maybe they are just leaving the term on their website because it sounds cool -- which would not speak well for their integrity. Or maybe after taking major-league public hits they still have not gotten around to correcting their website -- which would not speak well for their competence. Or maybe they actually are planning to dump nano-particles of iron into the ocean, which would not speak well for their sanity.

At any rate, Jim Thomas of ETC has suggested to me that when they select their flag of convenience, they consider flying the skull and crossbones.

Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Gameboys

New U.S. coalition hopes to get vid-kids back outside More than 50 business leaders, politicians, and activists have formed a national partnership to get America’s kids the hell outside. Inspired by recent concerns that too much fun with video games, computers, and TV can lead to obesity and depression, the National Forum on Children and […]

Burgers With a Conscience?

New scorecard rates corporations on their actions to fight climate change Which fast-food joint has the most cred on climate change — McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Burger King? A new scorecard from the nonprofit group Climate Counts has the answer; it ranks these and 53 other major corporations on their commitment to reducing their contributions to […]

An eco-lexical eco-spasm for the modern eco-age

With apologies to “green” and “enviro,” there’s no doubt “eco” is the supreme prefix of the environmental movement. Photo: iStockphoto According to the Oxford English Dictionary — the Bible of the English language, only with fewer lepers and begettings — “eco” detached from “ecology” as early as 1969, when examples of “eco-activist,” “eco-catastrophe,” and “ecocide” […]