Latest Articles

The Bike Factor: Disability and the ability to ride a bicycle

For many people with disabilities, cars don't just symbolize independence and freedom, they make them possible. But this isn't universally true

Study: Earth losing its climate change defenses

Like your body, the planet can heal itself a little bit. Some places, like forests and oceans, are carbon sinks -- they absorb carbon from the atmosphere, slowing down the rate at which everything goes to hell. But climate change is no papercut, and as it gets worse, it’s actually breaking the planet’s immune system. Two new studies in Nature argue that two types of carbon sinks -- oceans and soil -- are becoming less effective as climate change advances.

Bikes — and rollerbladers — beat plane in Carmageddon race

What happens when L.A. is debilitated by repairs on a 10-mile stretch of freeway? Some people hop on a 35-mile plane ride to bypass it. And others get on their bikes and make it there in half the time. 

Critical List: Yellowstone pipe could have carried tar-sands oil; L.A. survived Carmageddon

The Yellowstone River spill could have included heavier, more corrosive tar-sands oil, federal officials said. This type of oil eats through pipes more quickly, and if ExxonMobiil was using those pipes to transport tar-sands oil, that decision could have contributed to the spill.

Carmageddon = over. And it turns out that, given the choice to avoid the freeway by plane or bike, it’s faster to bike.

It's not the best idea to buy meat from Japan right now. Just saying.

Your fish oil tablets are destroying marine ecosystems.

Burn, baby, burn: Ask Umbra on sun-protective clothing

Do pricy sun-protective garments really do a better job than regular old clothes? Ask Umbra unbuttons the question.

Viva veggies: Say goodbye to bacon, boys

You should be a vegetarian, and so should I. So I'm going to try it for one week, and drag my family along with me.

25 days of dares: Kiss a cow, cut the shower short

This is Umbra’s third entry in the series “Grist dared me to make a change.” Read the first and second here. And support her dare with a gift to Grist! Day 7, July 11: Meatless Monday/fun day Celebrate your independence from factory-farmed meat by enjoying veggie dogs, eggplant stacks and other delicious meatless grillables. Check […]

Keystone XL pipeline would screw over farmers, threaten aquifer

The Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, which would cut through family farms and aquifers, is leak-prone and won't come with a solid cleanup strategy.

From “peak oil” to “unburnable carbon”

Recall one version of the peaker story – peak oil as a repository of hope.  This is the take in which, despairing of other avenues to rapid, large-scale changes, we look to peak oil to at least save us from the more extreme forms of climate disaster.  The idea is that, as we burn our […]

Greening a city … and pushing other colors out

A development plan in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood exposes the challenges of making communities sustainable without destroying their social fabric.