Latest Articles

Department of Energy turns out to be the Energy Hog

“What changes are you willing to make to save energy at work?” asks a blog post from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Savers blog. Energy Hog Hiding Place #1: The Department of Energyenergyhog.orgFor starters, how about swapping out old fluorescent and incandescent lighting, as its own website suggests? Wait a minute, file that under […]

Cleanup efforts bring life back to Grand Calumet River

Grand Calumet River near Gary AirportLeslie DorworthThe first time I saw the Grand Calumet River, I was driving down the Indiana Toll Road. It was 1996, and I had just arrived in northwest Indiana from North Carolina to take a new job as an aquatic ecology extension specialist with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program. All […]

Science vindicated as Senate edges closer to climate and energy debate

The 20-year global campaign to cool the planet, one of the most influential civic movements in human history, was built on two points of reference. The first is visible evidence on every continent of escalating temperatures, melting ice, more ferocious storms, fiercer droughts, and deadlier floods. The second is the wealth of scientific data that […]

New report suggests more record heat for U.S. this decade and beyond

Heat wave in Bryant Park, N.Y.C.Photo courtesy wolfsavard via FlickrHere in Philly, where the dog days of summer started early, we’re just on the other side of a pair of record-setting days — two days of highs over 100 degrees F. “We’re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course […]

Bicycle trailers and human-powered house moves

I want my next move to be by bicycle. Crazy? Not at all. Thanks to impressive new bicycle trailer designs, such a move is now possible. So are other, similarly audacious feats of human-powered hauling, from freighting fish to delivering mattresses. (More on that in a moment.) In 1981, when I left for college, (almost) […]

Weighing safety of weed killer in drinking water, EPA relies heavily on industry-backed studies

Illustration by Lagan Sebert, Huffington Post Investigative Fund, EPA Image by Harry Hanbury, Crop Duster image courtesy Jenni Jone via FlickrCross-posted from the Huffington Post Investigative Fund Companies with a financial interest in a weed-killer sometimes found in drinking water paid for thousands of studies federal regulators are using to assess the herbicide’s health risks, […]

Not even the Beatles can stop the oil spill [VIDEO]

When leaking crude threatens cartoon characters in a pineapple under the sea (under the sea!), the Beatles give it a go in this animated short. “We’ve been trying to stop the oil with our music,” they say. “It’s not working.” ——————————————————————————————————————————————– Like what you see? Sign up to receive The Grist List, our email roundup […]

The climate bill endgame

Cross-posted from the NRDC Switchboard blog.  To cap or not to cap? That is the question … The most important component of an effective climate bill — one that helps the economy recover and assures that greenhouse gas emissions will decline rapidly over the decades to come — is setting a cap on emissions. Opponents […]

California’s photovoltaic push

Amid the hullabaloo over government-chartered mortgage giants derailing the green financing program known as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, the march toward distributed generation of renewable energy — that is, generating electricity from decentralized sources such as rooftop solar panels or backyard wind turbines — continues. Case in point: The Sacramento Municipal Utility District […]

Hot enough for you?

Just another balmy day on the East Coast.Photo courtesy of Tomas Fano via flickr The oppressive heat wave gripping the eastern United States, by itself, shouldn’t have any influence on what policymakers think about global warming. But after the ridiculous spectacle of climate science deniers claiming that last winter’s blizzard disproves global warming, I hope […]