Latest Articles
-
Well, that's one way to recycle your bottle caps
This Chuck Close-style self-portrait by Mary Ellen Croteau is entirely made of discarded bottle caps. (A lot of them are from sodas, but deodorant caps, childproof pill container lids, soap bottle-style pumps, and tops from bottles of saline solution and eyedrops are also represented, along with probably many more.) This is possibly not a practical recycling solution for everyone, but you gotta admit it looks amazing.
-
Engineers: We have all the tech we need to cut carbon
Apparently the world's engineers are getting sick of being told that cutting emissions is an engineering problem. Eleven of the biggest engineering organizations have released a joint statement saying, in effect, "You want carbon cuts? We can give you carbon cuts. Just say the word, smart guy."
We already have all the tech necessary to cut emissions 85 percent by 2050, say the engineers. What we don't have is support from governments -- laws that prioritize carbon reduction, and funding to put the technology into action.
-
Red means stop, except for bikers in Kansas
Under a new Kansas law cooked up by bikers and motorcyclists, two-wheelers are allowed to run red lights.
-
Food Studies: a constant appetite
Sensory training at the University of Gastronomic Sciences means you have to drink beer at 9 a.m., or sample ham followed by strawberry jam.
-
Graph: The embarrassingly paltry sums government gives renewable energy
Click here for a larger version of this image.
-
Gee, we wish Obama would rip on Perry's denialism in public
“You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change,” said President Obama at a fundraiser in Silicon Valley on Sunday, allegedly. It's like he's been reading Grist! Or more like he made the obvious connection that everyone with even a lizard-like sense for irony would make. It’s nice to see the president […]
-
Graphic: Fast food is more expensive than homemade
The New York Times breaks down the cost of two home-cooked meals, relative to McDonald's.
-
Solyndra shows the government is doing its job, for once
Solyndra's failure isn’t an embarrassment for the government, says Joe Nocera in The New York Times. In fact, it’s exactly what we should expect from a government program designed to fund risky, early-stage technologies that wouldn't otherwise find traction among private-sector funders of research and development. If there were no Solyndras in this world, says Nocera, it would mean government was funding precisely the wrong kind of breakthrough energy research.
-
BP will be messing up Australia next
The Great Australian Bight has all of the hallmarks of a place you really don't want to mess with — incredible marine diversity, endangered whales, awesome natural beauty. But the Australian government decided that this would also be a good place to let BP prospect for oil, and gave the company a tax break to ease their way on that project.
-
How to save rhinos and tigers: Shoot the crap out of poachers
In India's Kaziranga National Park, rhinos and tigers are thriving, because poachers are dying instead. When it comes to poachers, the park's rangers have a license to kill, and they do. It gets results:
In 2010, only five rhinos were shot in Kaziranga, while nine poachers were killed, the first time poacher deaths surpassed rhinos. (For comparison, in South Africa, where rangers fire only in self-defense, five poachers were killed in 2010, while 333 rhinos were poached.)
These guys were breaking the law and killing endangered species. But the moral calculus here isn't so clear-cut. In the park's region, jobs are scarce. Park animals eats crops and kill farm animals, and poaching pays better than any other pursuit. Shooting poachers on sight is apparently the most effective way to conserve the park’s threatened animals, but how does that stack up against human injustice? It’s a complicated calculation.
