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An Ugly Alternative

In Colombia, biofuels push inspires land grabs, violence In case you need more evidence that biofuels are not the Big Green Conscience-Easing Solution: a disturbing pattern has emerged in Colombia, where vast palm-oil plantations are taking the place of tropical forests and farmland. Aid organizations working in the area say paramilitary gangs are seizing land […]

Make Our Green Day

We green your day each and every day — today, it’s your turn to green us Dearest Grist reader, we won’t beat around the bush: it’s summertime, the livin’ is easy, and we’d like you to send us some of your hard-earned cash. In return, you’ll receive (in no particular order): our endless appreciation; ever […]

Palm-oil plantations imperiling orangutans, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Hey, At Least He Pronounced It Right Sounds Familiar That’s It, No More Toothpaste For Us Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Pesticide-Free Garden Just Say Noh Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: The Trouble With Dribbles Depositive Thinking

She discusses her new environmentally themed show

This spring a small-but-innovative dance company in Southern California called TRIP Dance Theatre premiered a production about what poet Gary Snyder calls "the war against nature." The dance was called "Poisoning the Well."

Using delicate, Asian-flavored music, played live, the dancers first appeared carrying water and gathering around a well. Slowly the audience could watch the grace and beauty of these dancers, four of them women, literally turned upside down by human desperation, greed, and the raw flow of our "effluent society," including elegantly simplified depictions of "red tides," the vast gyres of plastics in the oceans, and "drunken" trees.

The dance was both gorgeous and upsetting, but required very few words words. To better understand, and to introduce TRIP Dance Theatre to a wider audience, I asked company founder and choreographer Monica Favand Campagna to talk about her work:

Calling All Working Assets Customers

Your incessant gabbing can raise money for Grist As if the free pints of Ben & Jerry’s weren’t sweet enough, now Working Assets customers can get something even sweeter: the chance to earn money for Grist with the click of a button. Phone and credit-card customers can go to the Working Assets voting page and […]

With Protectors Like This …

Wildlife-trade regulators approve massive sale of ivory The world’s only body that can limit trade in endangered species kicked off a 12-day meeting this weekend with one hell of a bang: The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, approved the sale of some 60 tons of […]

Friday music blogging: Okkervil River

I was originally going to fly to D.C. on Sun. June 10, but I moved it back a day when I found out Okkervil River is playing Seattle that night. Okkervil is a bit of a strange case — they’re one of my favorite bands of the last few years, maybe ever, but I’m leery […]

Incident on the Mediterranean makes rounds on U.S. news

Last week we broke the story about French fishermen coordinating an attack on Oceana's research vessel, Ranger, in an attempt to get their hands on the pictures our crew has been taking of them using illegal driftnets.

Now everyone's talking about it, including our friends at NPR. They aired a segment on the confrontation on their top radio show, "All Things Considered." And footage of the assault is racking up hits on YouTube. Remember, you heard it here first.

Top scientists appeal to WTO

The other day I told you how there's a good chance we could see an end to commercial overfishing subsidies through WTO negotiations. And my organization is not alone in making the case to the World Trade Organization. At least 125 scientists from 27 countries feel the same way and sent a letter to the WTO making it clear that "an ambitious outcome in the ongoing WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations is vital to the future of the world's fisheries."

The scientists who signed the letter are a who's who of ocean fisheries scientists, including Daniel Pauly, Boris Worm, Jeremy B.C. Jackson, Andrew Rosenberg, Carl Safina, Callum Roberts, Larry Crowder, and Wallace "J" Nichols. These leading experts made the stakes clear: "Fisheries subsidies," they note in the letter, "produce such strong economic incentives to overfish that reducing them is one of the most significant actions that can be taken to combat global overfishing." How's that for pressure?

You can see the full letter here (PDF).

And You Should See ‘Em Pop a Wheelie

Hypermilers squeeze every last drop out of their fuel economy Your hybrid only gets 47 miles per gallon? Too bad for you, sucka. A small group deeming themselves “hypermilers” has adjusted driving habits to use the teeniest amount of gas possible, and boasts of achieving up to 112.2 mpg. These bad-ass fuel economizers have moved […]