Latest Articles
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New Agtivist Q&A with John Scharffenberger: First wine, then chocolate, and now … tofu?
John Scharffenberger at the Hodo Soy Beanery tofu factory in Oakland, Calif.(Bart Nagel Photography) This is the first in Grist’s series of interviews with a group we’re calling the “New Agtivists” — the many people who’re working to change this country’s f’ed-up food system. Whether famous or un-, they’re a little bit country and a […]
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CNN Poll: 82% of Americans Approve of the Idea of a BP Escrow Fund
CNN released new polling Thursday with fascinating data on how Americans feel about the response to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Using the poll’s toplines (PDF), I’ve created a series of charts which present the data in a far more useful format. First and foremost, it looks Rep. Joe Barton (R-Big […]
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Transmission constraints derail solar project
Amid all the hope and hype about the nascent solar boom under way in California, there’s long been an elephant in the room — transmission. Billions and billions of dollars must be spent to build and upgrade transmission lines to connect dozens of proposed solar power plants to the grid. Now that elephant has rolled […]
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Portland Mayor Sam Adams wants ’20-minute neighborhoods’
Newish Portland Mayor Sam Adams wants to build more “20-minute neighborhoods” in his fair city. From a Fast Company interview: We’re also working to make every section of Portland a complete 20-minute neighborhood to strengthen our local economy. Two-thirds of all trips in Portland and in most American cities are not about getting to and […]
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Another pathetic day in the U.S. Senate
Today was an important day for the energy bill. Sort of. The entire Democratic Senate caucus met to discuss how to move forward on climate and energy. Kerry, Bingaman, and Cantwell all presented — and argued for — their respective bills. (They made videos, too — Kerry’s; Cantwell’s.) The intent was to make some kind […]
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Solar panels’ deadly attraction lures some to their demise
masterjack.roger via FlickrPV, I only have eyes for you. It really bugs us that there are (naturally) some down sides to renewable energy solutions, such as solar or wind. Which makes the news that the brilliant shine of solar panels is luring some insects to their deaths sting even more. Wasp could be worse than […]
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The Climate Post: Nothing shaking on Barton’s ‘shakedown’ street
First things first: Congressional investigators have released material documenting troubles at the Deepwater Horizon site before it failed–and a culture of cost-cutting at BP that elevated catastrophic risk. Five days before the April 20 explosion, a BP engineer called it a “nightmare well which [sic] has everyone all over the place.” A detailed letter to […]
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60 Percent of U.S. Tidal Marshes Threatened By BP Oil Slick
New data released by NOAA shows that the massive BP oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is already contaminating one major protected North American Marine Ecoregion, containing more than 60 percent of America’s tidal marshes. The slick also threatens to impact at least two more Ecoregions in the near future. The site of the […]
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Republican infighting overshadows the Tony Hayward show
CSPANBP America CEO Tony McGaffeypants Hayward made his first appearance before Congress today, facing questions from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. What did it accomplish? What new information did it unearth? Ha, ha. Maybe you haven’t seen a Congressional hearing before. Hayward had little to say beyond a chorus of “I don’t know”s in […]
