Latest Articles
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Midas Triumphant: The Climate Year in Review
Events of 2011 show that no matter how solid the science, some people will never accept that humans are causing global warming. So how can we cut the Gordian Knot that is manmade global warming? by Auden Schendler, reposted from the Atlantic One version of the myth of King Midas holds that he was not […]
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Paris had the High Line before the High Line was cool
Oh, New York. You think that you've got a cool new idea, but always (always!) Europe beats you to it. NYC’s been getting all kinds of excited about its High Line park, an abandoned train platform converted into a wonderland of local plants, awesome places to sit and people-watch, and hibiscus ice pop vendors. But at TreeHugger, Alex Davies points out that NYC is just a couple decades late to the elevated park party. For almost 20 years, Parisians have been enjoying a stroll above city streets on the Viaduc des Arts. And just like the High Line, the elevated platform is a converted rail line.
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Photos: What America looked like before the EPA
In 1972, the year-old EPA had photographers traverse the country to document the (often dire) state of the environment. This project, Documerica, was "the visual echo of the mission of the EPA," according to one photographer. Now, 40 years later, archive specialist Jerry Simmons has unearthed the photos and put them online at the National Archives website and on Flickr. It's a time capsule of life before the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
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Critical List: Patagonia becomes a Benefit Corporation; oil industry threatens Obama
Patagonia has become a Benefit Corporation, which means it can prioritize goals other than profit.
The oil industry is sending a message to Obama: Approve the Keystone XL pipeline, or face the political music in 2012.
It is possible to avoid earthquakes when disposing of fracking wastewater. It's just really, really expensive.
The U.S. isn't the only country leery of the EU's carbon trading airline scheme: China's protesting, too. -
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Get your green New Year’s resolutions right here
Still deciding how to enhance and eco-ify your life in 2012? We rounded up resolutions from Grist readers and staffers to give you some ideas.
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What the Times’ organic tomato story missed: Golf courses
Farming organic winter tomatoes in Mexico definitely has its problems, but Del Cabo's Larry Jacobs says water isn't one of them.
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My New Year’s resolution
I'm an analyzer, dissector, chopper-upper, drawn to flaws and inconsistencies like itches that need scratching. But there are limits to that sort of thing.
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Goths are the darkest treehuggers ever
Goths have been communing with nature since way before all you hippies. They commune with nature in much the same way as they commune with gravestones, i.e. by draping themselves over it in corsets and taking pictures. Maybe I just love the Goths Up Trees Tumblr because I've committed a goth-in-a-tree photo or two in my time, but also it's hilarious.
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Oops: Gas Industry Study on Industry “Economics” Omits Costs of Water Contamination
Despite spending massively to position itself as “clean,” the natural gas industry has a serious pollution problem it doesn’t want getting more public and regulatory attention. Not only is the industry’s climate disruption footprint potentially heavierthan coal, the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) practice the current gas boom depends on is contaminating our water supplies. The industry wants you […]
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Fossil fuels receive 250 different kinds of subsidies
Even though renewables get federal subsidies for research and development, they’re still at a disadvantage when competing with fossil fuels, because fossil fuels receive even more subsidies. We basically all knew that already, but few of us realized it was quite this bad. Turns out fossil fuels get 250 different kinds of subsidies, and they’re getting more all the time.
