Articles

Green issues and greenbacks: Occupy Wall Street connects the dots [VIDEO]

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters linked climate and the environment to their movement this past Sunday, Oct. 30. OWS’s environmental working group put the Climate Justice Day event together in five days, hosting workshops at New York City’s Zuccotti Park on topics such as fracking and sustainable economics. Throughout the day, speakers drew connections between […]

Jennifer Prediger Culture

Is solar Britain’s new sunset industry?

Photo: doggy SchnauzerGovernment treasury departments don’t generally respond well to the idea that the environment matters, and here in the U.K. things are no different. Yesterday, Energy Minister Greg Barker announced proposals for a 50 percent reduction of the “feed-in tariff” — a program that guarantees homeowners an income for the power they produce from […]

Ben Tuxworth Energy

Texas toast: State’s drought-crippled ag market has global impact

Lakeview Park, Texas.Photo: dasrooflessCross-posted from Climate Progress. In August, agronomists showed that the historic drought in Texas had caused a stunning $5.3 billion in losses in the agricultural sector. Two months later, even with some rain finally coming to the state, Texas farmers are being crippled by a drought that could stretch beyond next summer. […]

Stephen Lacey Politics

Occupy Wall Street moves to bike power

Now that their gas generators have been seized, Occupy Wall Street is switching to a greener option: human power. Generator bikes can provide 100 hours of power per six hours of pedaling, which helps fuel OWS needs like heat, light, phones, and laptops. As you might have guessed from subtle messages in the above film, […]

Jess Zimmerman Climate & Energy

State Department rejects 94,000 public comments on Keystone XL

The Sierra Club's Beyond Oil campaign collected 296,000 written comments on Keystone XL, and submitted them by email to Cardno Entrix, the TransCanada-affiliated firm that evaluated the pipeline. When a bunch of the comments ended up "lost," they resubmitted them to the State Department. But, says Inside Climate News, the State Department didn't want 'em. […]

Jess Zimmerman Energy

Another coal ash spill — this time in Lake Michigan

The We Energy Oak Creek Power Plant.Photo: JonnyfixedgearHow many more coal ash spills need to happen before Americans are protected by coal ash safeguards? The latest happened Monday in Oak Creek, Wis., at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant. Thankfully there were no injuries. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal: A large section of bluff collapsed Monday […]

Mary Anne Hitt Energy

Drain-eye shaman puts sensors in New York’s sewers

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 […]

Andrew Leonard Buildings

Republicans critical of Solyndra sought loan guarantees for coal, nuclear

There's ample evidence that pretty much everyone in Congress — even vocal critics of the government’s investment in Solyndra — is into loan guarantees for energy, whatever they tell the cameras after a few of these relatively risky ventures inevitably fail. Rep. John Boehner, for instance, requested loans to enrich uranium under the same loan […]

Christopher Mims Technology

Hypnotic video of wind turbine being erected in under 7 minutes

Turns out assembling a 364-foot-high wind turbine is just like playing with an impossibly enormous Erector set. This 1.5 MW turbine went up in Boston, where it will save its owner $350,000 in electricity costs every year.