Latest Articles
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Koch-funded group complains about ‘political favors’ in new ad. LOL.
Americans for Prosperity has a lot of very concrete ideas about what happened with the Solyndra loan and the company's collapse. None of those ideas are backed by evidence, since the investigation isn't complete, but let's pass lightly over that. The real hilarity here comes from the fact that Americans for Prosperity — a group backed […]
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Why prison inmates make great conservationists
Kelli Bush, project manager for Washington state’s Sustainable Prisons Project, works with an unlikely group of conservationists: prison inmates. In collaboration with scientists, students, community groups, and prison staff, inmates at four Washington correctional facilities play an integral part in habitat and species restoration efforts. They raise Oregon spotted frogs (endangered in Washington), Taylor’s checkerspot […]
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Interactive graphic shows just how few resources are left
Scientific American has put together an interactive feature where you can watch resources disappear before your very eyes. The dates for when things will "run out" are a little fuzzy — they've got animals pretty much running out five minutes from now, even though they're endangered but not extinct. But there are informative videos, and […]
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Maude’s Market: Spreading local food in Monsanto country
Maude Bauschard, outside her local food market in St. Louis. Maude Bauschard sells local and sustainably produced groceries and runs a weekly community-supported agriculture (CSA) box from a small store she calls Maude’s Market. This wouldn’t sound like much if she were living in a city on one of the coasts, but Bauschard lives in […]
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Did Germany screw the planet by deep-sixing its nuclear plants?
Germany’s phaseout of nuclear power was a boneheaded move that has wreaked havoc with its power grid and cost consumers dearly, and it will hurt the planet by leading to more coal-fired power, says a feature by Aaron Wiener in The New Republic. But wait, says Grist’s own David Roberts! Germany did no such thing! […]
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Hasbro Turns Over a New Leaf, Steps Up For Rainforests
One of the world’s biggest toy makers is no longer playing around when it comes to deforestation. In June, Greenpeace research showed that many popular toys — like Barbie dolls and Transformers — were being wrapped in paper packaging linked to rainforest destruction. Our investigations showed paper from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a notorious […]
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Amtrak using beef-based biofuel
Like Joe Biden, Amtrak now runs on beef tallow. America's rail company just replaced 35,000 gallons of diesel fuel in one of its 3,200-horsepower locomotives with biofuel derived from the stuff, and reports that the experiment resulted in no ill effects for the train, and lower than usual emissions. That doesn't mean using beef-based biofuels […]
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Obama will make final determination on Keystone XL
Obama has announced that the buck on Keystone XL will stop with him. This image is kind of wishful thinking — it's nice to imagine that Obama will just slice through all the conflict-of-interest BS that's currently going down with TransCanada and the State Department, but the likelihood is that this will not end well. Still, […]
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Girl Scouts can now win ‘locavore’ merit badges
Dust off your old sash, because you could be eligible for the Girl Scout "locavore" merit badge. (It means you only eat the cookies that your neighbor's kid sells, right?) Here's how you earn your locavore badge: Explore the benefits and challenges of going local Find your local food sources Cook a simple dish showcasing […]
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Kids in polluted cities show cognitive deficits
In New York City, for all its wonders, it's not uncommon still to hear the childless pronounce that they "could never imagine raising kids in the city." Turns out they might have a good reason for that. Although kids who grow up in cities have a certain worldliness about them, raising urban kids does have […]
