Latest Articles

Cleantech spending drops 75 percent in five years

A new paper from Brookings, the World Resources Institute, and the Breakthrough Institute shows exactly how much trouble cleantech is in: Depressing, no? Some of that rapid decline comes from the end of stimulus spending. But the researchers found that even discounting those funds, federal support for cleantech dropped 47 percent between 2011 and 2012.

Earth Day revisited: An environmental patriarch on keeping the dream alive

Denis Hayes, the man who coordinated the first Earth Day back in 1970, talks about where the action will be this year, the state of the environmental movement, and why he’s become a green developer.

Charming video explains where traffic comes from and how to fix it

A tire fire so big it can be seen from space

Tire fires are a nasty business, and in Kuwait yesterday, a fire broke out at a dump that held more than 5 million tires. The fire was so big that the smoke plume was visible from space: A tire fire this big is an environmental disaster. It won’t just pollute the air with hazardous materials […]

Critical List: Americans link climate change to hot weather; yet another Keystone XL bill

The majority of Americans are convinced that climate change had something to do with the warm winter and last year’s super hot summer. Good news: They believe climate change has consequences. Bad news: When it gets cold, they’ll be convinced we fixed it. House Republicans are going to vote today on yet another bill that […]

Help us get haiku

We asked for your best Earth Day haikus, and you rhymed beyond reason. Vote now to help Grist pick a winner!

Occupy Wall Street 2.0: A chat with the editor of Adbusters

Adbusters' Kalle Lasn is largely credited for conceptualizing and starting the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park. Here, he talks about his vision for the future.

Beyond hugging trees: Russian forest activist puts her life on the line, inspires democracy movement

Evgenia Chirikova won a Goldman Environmental Prize for her crusade to stop an illegal road through a preserved forest outside Moscow. Her work has inspired activists all over Russia -- and now the world.

Politically conservative cities suck for pedestrians

Walkin’ in politically conservative cities, walkin’ in politically conservative cities, nobody walks in politically conservative citiiiiies. Okay this is not very catchy, but Will Oremus at Slate has noticed that it’s true. The most walkable cities are reliably politically liberal — the 19 most walkable are all in states that voted for Obama in 2008, and […]

Bill Nye explains why the city of the future is bike-friendly

The city of the future has showers at the office for bike commuters, weatherproof bike highways, and tunnels engineered to create helpful tailwinds, according to Bill Nye the Science Guy.