Latest Articles

San Francisco transportation agency wants to put brakes on automobiles

The executive director of the city's transportation agency said, "Like in the FDA's food pyramid, too many cars are not good for you."

Salmonella-free backyard eggs, coral catastrophe, BPA-go-go, and more

In my latest roundup of interesting food media, I sample eggs you can risk eating raw, the looming coral cataclysm, mega-dairies, and more.

A Kentucky Community Surrounded by Coal Ash

This week’s coal ash community profile was written by Elizabeth Irvin, a Sierra Club Apprentice. For one weekend each year in early May, Louisville, Kentucky, boasts an abnormally high concentration of horses, jockeys, mint juleps, and elaborate hats. Less than ten miles from Churchill Downs, the neighborhood of Riverside Gardens has been dealing with an […]

Answer me this

I often spend parts of my day ranting against theoreticians and conference attenders who are essentially fiddling while Rome burns. I get really tired of the theorizing and the screwing around next to the chocolate dipped strawberries outside the panel discussion. That said, I realize there is an anti-intellectual flavor to this kind of thinking, […]

Choosy tasters stick to Skippy-like organic peanut butters

Some of the scary problems with peanut butter can be avoided by buying organic. But do any of them taste as good as the bad stuff? Lou Bendrick assembles a panel to find out. Find out which one will drive your taste buds nuts.

One Dallas neighborhood revives its streets with some DIY energy

The Better Block project in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas aims to bring life to streets that had been left for dead. And people around the country are starting to take notice.

California ups the ante on renewable electricity standard

California has stepped up again. Yesterday it raised the bar for states setting targets for using renewable energy.

Texas guv candidate Bill White talks wind, solar, and urban planning

The Democratic candidate for governor spoke to Grist about energy, high-speed rail, and the daunting prospect of urban planning in Texas.

Your meat is too big — try this worm instead

Americans have issues with meat. But maybe we wouldn't have so many problems if we started to favor the flavor of the small -- and wiggly. Would you make a meal of worms?

Bjorn Lomborg: same skeptic, different day

Bjorn Lomborg, the Danish climate skeptic, is back in the news. He now wants to have it both ways, calling climate change real, but not really urgent.