Latest Articles

The Afghan Price

Earlier this year, Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke about discovering that truckloads of single-use plastic shopping bags imported into his war-torn nation were squandering precious resources of fuel while risking the lives of truck drivers as they passed through insurgent held territories. Recognizing the true cost of wasting scarce resources in a place with so […]

Make cities, not war

Mayors from around the country are wondering why we're building bridges in Kandahar when bridges at home are falling to pieces.

Supreme Court says Clean Air Act preempts state climate nuisance suits

The Supreme Court just ruled that regulating greenhouse gases is the Feds' job, as spelled out in the Clean Air Act. Good thing the Federal government is all over that one. (Sarcasm!)

Gas should cost $15 per gallon

Grist readers know that the "high price" of gasoline in America doesn't begin to capture its true costs. But do you know exactly why that is? The smart, deep-diving folks at the California's Center for Investigative Reporting have made this great video breaking down the reasons why gasoline should actually cost closer to $15 per gallon. You should watch it (it involves cocker spaniels!), but if you can't spare 5 minutes, the highlights are below.

 

Look how much more space we'd have without sprawl

  If we could just get everyone in the world to pack in a little tighter, we'd have a hell of a lot more open space to work with. Imagine the possibilities! We could pack everyone into the Midwest, fill Canada with wind turbines, and leave everything else for wildlife. Okay, maybe that's not realistic, […]

Bicycling's gender gap: It's the economy, stupid

Why don't more women in the U.S. ride bikes? Hint: it's not just about fear and fashion.

Republicans love bike and rail — so why don't Republican politicians?

Listen up, Limbaugh: It's not actually ridiculous for a Republican presidential candidate to take global warming seriously. Americans want solutions, like bike lanes and increased public transit, that will address climate change, and that's true across the political spectrum. In a recent poll, 74 percent of Republican respondents supported bike lanes, and 80 percent wanted more public transportation.

Critical List: Rich countries renege on Copenhagen promise; solar panels get cheaper

Remember when, at Copenhagen, richer countries responsible for most carbon pollution promised to supply aid to poorer countries suffering the consequences? Yeah, that's not happening.

People want to give Tony Hayward, the ex-BP head, money to buy oil and gas firms in emerging markets, perhaps because the idea of rich people fiddling with the economies of less-wealthy nations gives them warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings of colonialism.

The debt limit fight is going to kill any chance of climate legislation, forever.

The indignity of industrial tomatoes

Tasteless, indestructible, and picked by literal slaves, tomatoes have become a national shame, writes Barry Estabrook.

Tofu, eh? Ask Umbra on going vegetarian in Canada

A Canadian living the meatless life wants to sink her teeth into information about her nation’s food industry. Ask Umbra looks to the north.