Articles

Brenda Palms-Barber

Art: Nat Damm Brenda Palms-Barber Chief Executive Director, North Lawndale Employment Network Chicago, Ill. Brenda Palms-Barber never meant to start a green project. She just wanted to create jobs for the residents of Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, 57 percent of whom have been incarcerated or had some involvement with the criminal justice system. As chief […]

Grist staff Technology

Steve Price

Art: Nat Damm Steve Price Digital Designer, Urban Advantage El Cerrito, Calif. Digital artist Steve Price, 59, wants to show you the future of green urbanism—literally show you. He creates photo simulations of what blighted urban landscapes would look like if they were transformed into healthier, safer, more sustainable places—and pretty sweet spots to live. […]

Grist staff Technology

Fast food salads worse for you than KFC’s meaty Double Down

So you’re boycotting KFC because you think its extra-meaty Double Down sandwich (two chicken breasts, hold the buns) is nasty. But you’re running late and need food now. You opt for a healthy option at Burger King — a salad (the Tendercrisp Garden Salad, to be exact). Not so fast, McFoodie. The Consumerist has a […]

Tyler Falk Technology

LaDonna Redmond

Art: Nat Damm LaDonna Redmond President, Institute for Community Resource Development; Founder, Graffiti and Grub Chicago, Ill. A decade ago, LaDonna Redmond found that her infant son had an array of food allergies. After doing research, she concluded the best diet for her family was organic whole foods. Trouble was, in her west Chicago neighborhood, […]

Grist staff Food

Massey denies time off for workers to attend funerals of mine victims

The coal and oil industries are really trying to outdo each other these days. Massey Energy, the criminally unsafe coal mining and intimidation company, refuses to give workers time off to attend the funerals of friends who died in Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, the Washington Independent reports: Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that […]

Jonathan Hiskes Climate & Energy

The people speak at the world people’s climate summit

Cochabamba, Bolivia — The voice of Evo Morales cut through the autumn heat, no problem: “The principle causes of climate change are from capitalism,” the Bolivian president told attendees at his country’s alternative climate summit, the first World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. It was time, said Morales, for […]

Ashley Braun Climate & Energy

Coming soon to a cul-de-sac near you: farming!

A new way forward for suburbia?Suburban sprawl was a dreadful mistake–and not one brought on by “consumer choice,” but rather by a specific set of government policies. Let’s hope sprawl’s forward march can now be stopped–the bursting of the housing bubble no doubt helped with that. But existing sprawl isn’t going away. It’s our […]

Tom Philpott Culture

Irma Muñoz

Art: Nat Damm Irma Muñoz Founder, Mujeres de la Tierra Baldwin Vista, Calif. Los Angeles native Irma Muñoz, 57, founded Mujeres de la Tierra (Women of the Earth) in 2004, after two neighbors died of cancers that they suspected had been caused by nearby oil wells. Her group organizes women in Southern California to fight for cleaner, healthier […]

Grist staff Culture

Patti Moreno

Art: Nat Damm Patti Moreno Founder, Garden Girl TV and Urban Sustainable Living Roxbury, Mass. Patti Moreno, 38, aka “The Garden Girl,” wants to sow the seeds of inspiration and get everyone growing organic veggies and living a more self-sustaining life. In her how-to videos and on her websites, Garden Girl TV and Urban Sustainable […]