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Robert Redford and green groups tell Obama to step up on Gulf oil leak

Whither Obama? There’s a growing chorus calling for the president to show leadership on the BP oil disaster by connecting it to America’s fossil-fuel dependence and the potential of clean-energy investment. “The silence from the White House is deafening,” a Clinton-era White House aide told ClimateWire. “Clearly without a White House push there does not […]

Friedman nails Obama for his timid response to the “environmental 9/11”

As I’ve written before, one of the most baffling things about the BP Gulf oil disaster has been the Obama administration’s flaccid response. They’re doing everything they can to contain the spill, but they also seem to be doing everything they can to contain the American people’s anger. There’s been no effort whatsoever to channel […]

Big Oil’s friends on Capitol Hill block spill liability increase

These are tough times for buddies of Big Oil on Capitol Hill. How do you stand by your men amid photos of thick pools of oil lapping into the marshes of southern Louisiana and more video of BP pipes gushing oil? But love, as always, finds a way.  In the Senate, fossil-fuel fans James Inhofe […]

Home Star: Let’s move past the talk and get to the action

Now that it has passed the House of Representatives with flying colors (246 to 161), we are thisclose to making Home Star a reality. This is the plan, supported on both sides of the aisle, that would give U.S. homeowners rebates for energy-efficiency improvements that cut energy consumption. Most importantly, Home Star will put many […]

We should totally nuke the oil spill

According to a Miami Herald opinion writer, one thing that’s getting in the way of stopping the oil spill is our emotional attachment to the Gulf ecosystem.  And food.  So we should nuke it.  Which is kind of like microwaving, but safer, because the Russians do it all the time.  Or so says an expert.  […]

Forget broccoli — Berkeley students aren’t keen on beans either

Part 5 of Cafeteria Confidential: Berkeley, in which Ed Bruske reports on his recent week-long, firsthand look at how Berkeley, Calif., schools part ways from the typical school diet of frozen, industrially processed convenience foods. Cross-posted from The Slow Cook. And check out the rest of the Cafeteria Confidential series. After spending hours sorting chicken […]

Featured Friend: Diane Bailey

Each month, we showcase one of our beloved Friends with Benefits — folks who have donated to support our work. Want to take your relationship with Grist to the next level? Just donate any amount to join the fun.  Diane Bailey “I give to GRIST because I love, love, love the satirical, entertaining delivery style of environmental […]

The birthplace of pizza may be cooking its pies with coffins

pie4dan via Flickr Creative Commons When the truth hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s a-mor-e. When the pizza was cooked on an old coffin’s roof, that’s … a-pall-ing. Even if you’ve gone to heaven, you still might be burning after you’re gone … that is, if you were buried in Naples, Italy. […]

The American Power Act and California’s AB 32

Some commentators have mistakenly concluded that if Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman’s American Power Act passes, it will make California’s Global Warming Solution Act (AB 32) moot. This is wrong. The American Power Act preserves nearly all of California’s clean energy and carbon reduction policy tools. It would take away only one tool: the […]

David Brooks to old folks: cities are better now

David Brooks writes about the ’60s and ’70s crime wave that scared a generation of Americans–or a generation of white, mobile Americans–away from urban living: [P]eople in all classes lived in fear. “Mugging was nothing unusual. Everybody got mugged,” [John] Podhoretz writes. A serial killer nicknamed Charlie Chop-Off menaced the Upper West Side, emasculating little […]