Latest Articles

Fareed Zakaria, Daniel Yergin, and the elite disdain for clean energy deployment

In the New York Times Book Review, Fareed Zakaria has a review of Daniel Yergin's new book, "The Quest," that reads like a capsule summary of current elite conventional wisdom on energy.

Atlas error overstates Greenland's (still significant!) ice loss

Here's the good news: Greenland did not lose 15 percent of its ice cover in the last 10 years, as the Times [Usually] Comprehensive Atlas of the World said it did. This is, in fact, really good news, since this amount of melting would raise sea levels three to five feet. The publisher, HarperCollins subsidiary Collins Geo, has retracted the 15 percent figure but says it's "reviewing" the map -- but in the meantime, a whole bunch of scientists went "whoa whoa whoa there." 

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.