Latest Articles

Energy companies get $24 billion of corporate welfare from taxpayers

Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies have gotten so extreme that dozens of top companies have made billions in profits while having negative taxes — actually receiving taxpayer welfare instead of paying anything to the federal treasury. An analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and […]

‘The Story of Broke,’ Annie Leonard’s new video

Annie Leonard made a splash with her viral video about our consumerist society, “The Story of Stuff,” which inspired a book, an in-depth website, and a series of spinoffs. Her latest installment in the series is “The Story of Broke” — watch it here: The video in a nutshell: The Story of Broke: Why there’s […]

IEA’s bombshell warning: Act now or climate change is here to stay

Cross-posted from Climate Progress. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has issued yet another clarion call for urgent action on climate. Their 2011 World Energy Outlook (WEO) release should end once and for all any notion that delay is the rational course for the nation and the world. The U.K. Guardian‘s headline captures the urgency: World […]

Study: We have five years to stop climate change, or it will be too late

According to a comprehensive analysis by the International Energy Agency, the point of no return on climate change is fast approaching. Either we halt it in five years, or … well, imagine I'm drawing my finger across my throat while making a "kkkkkhhhhhh" sound. Basically, any fossil fuel infrastructure that goes up in the next […]

It’s not dead yet! The electric car makes a comeback, again, maybe

There are a couple of things you ought to know about the new film Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine’s sequel to his 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? First, this would be more aptly named The Running Saga of the Electric Car, or better yet, How The Electric Car Gets Its […]

Map shows how hard it is to escape McDonald’s

Scientist and data visualization expert Stephen von Worley got curious how far it was possible to get from "our world of generic convenience." So he made up this map of the U.S., color-coded by distance to the nearest McDonald's. Conclusion: The fast food giant is basically breathing down your neck anywhere east of the Mississippi, […]

China committing climate blackmail with super-powerful greenhouse gas, say critics

China is threatening to vent super-powerful greenhouse gases if Europe cuts off its supply of valuable carbon credits next year. The climate Kryptonite in question is hydrofluorocarbon-23. One ton of this stuff has the same greenhouse gas punch as 11,700 tons of carbon dioxide. Most of China’s $6 billion in carbon credits have been intended […]

How’s it feel to already be living in a post-peak oil apocalypse?

The International Energy Agency says peak oil came and went — in 2006. The only reason we're not already paying $10 a gallon for gas and generally Mad Maxing it up is that there was this thing called a recession. Well, that, and cough cough the tar sands saved our asses cough cough. Unconventional sources […]

Superstorm hits Alaska

When the National Weather Service calls a storm "epic," you know something big is going down. (Or that the National Weather Service employs a lot of 20something copywriters, I guess, but in this case it's the former.) The storm currently sweeping over Alaska is going to be one of the most severe Bering Strait storms […]

A co-op movement grows in Cleveland

Grist is proud to present the Change Gang — profiles of people who are leading change on the ground toward a more sustainable society and a greener planet. Some we’ve written about before; some are new to our pages. Some you’ll have heard of; most you probably won’t. Know someone we should add to the […]