Latest Articles

Bloomberg: Mayors hold key to climate change progress

“As mayors — the great pragmatists of the world’s stage and directly responsible for the well-being of the majority of the world’s people — we don’t have the luxury of simply talking about change but not delivering it.” That was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaking at the United Nations yesterday. Bloomberg delivered the remarks […]

Fundamental breakthrough could double electricity from solar panels

It is a truth often repeated that fundamental physical limits mean solar panels can never capture and transform more than about 31 percent of the sun's energy. But Xiaoyang Zhu at the University of Texas apparently just did the impossible, and in a most spectacular fashion: He found a way to increase the efficiency of […]

The return of the Keystone XL pipeline

Keystone XL is back from the dead. After President Obama announced a delay in a final decision on the tar-sands pipeline, House Republicans’ first gambit was to try to speed up that process. But now, they have a more sinister plan: They are trying to force through wholesale approval of the pipeline project. They're doing […]

Critical List: Congress does everything it can to screw the environment; fabric cleaned by sunlight

Congress voted to put sanctions on Iran, which would make it harder for Iran to sell oil, but potentially make oil sales more profitable for the regime overall. After all the work that the anti-Keystone coalition did, Republicans are trying to tack a measure to approve the pipeline onto a bill that extends the payroll […]

A dollar badly spent: New facts on processed food in school lunches

Photo: USDA I want to draw attention to an eye-opening investigative report on school lunch that has gotten a bit lost in the holiday shuffle. In a collaboration between The New York Times and the Investigative Fund, reporter Lucy Komisar delved into the billion-dollar business of the national school lunch program and found some unsettling news. […]

Dirty South: Youth farms keep New Orleans teens in school gardens

The effort solves an important riddle: how to keep students engaged with food after eighth grade.

Truthy consequences: A world without Grist

It’s a cruel world out there, but at Grist we work hard to keep it habitable — or at least to keep you chuckling as it goes to hell in a carbon-colored handbasket. Yes, you could blow your cash on other things (Shake Weights!) instead of donating to Grist. But imagine a future without Grist […]

As Economic Growth Fails How Do We Live? Part I: The Four Horsemen of the Economic Apocalypse

As recently as a year ago it was considered heresy to suggest economic growth would not soon resume. Now, however, as The Big Engine That Couldn’t has faltered for several years, it is becoming increasingly clear the economy is running off the tracks.  Both investors and the public are beginning to realize the long-revered goal of endless economic growth […]

21st Century Activism: Why big business doesn’t always have to be the bad guy

Today is a great day for the future of the IT sector.   Over the past few years, we’ve campaigned hard against Facebook to get them to commit to clean energy – specifically, we wanted them to change their siting policy-the decisions that they make about how to power their massive football-stadium-sized data centers. When […]

Zen and the art of urban transportation

This is excerpted from a longer story in GRID Chicago. To read the original, which includes a (somewhat hair-raising) ride to work with the commissioner, click here. When forward-thinking Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) Commissioner Gabe Klein reported for work on May 16 as part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new administration, it marked a sea […]