Latest Articles

Robert Cialdini

Art: Nat Damm Robert Cialdini Psychologist Tempe, Ariz. Robert Cialdini, 64, until recently a psychology and marketing professor at Arizona State University, wrote Influence, the classic book on persuasion. Lately he’s been researching the best ways to persuade people to save energy. In 2007, he coauthored a study [PDF] that found that giving people info […]

Ambrose Carroll

Art: Nat Damm Ambrose Carroll Pastor, Renewal Worship Center Denver, Colo. The Renewal Worship Center, founded in April 2009 by Rev. Ambrose Carroll, 40, is one of the first churches in the U.S. to have started up with an explicitly environmental emphasis; it also has a mission to reach out to all different kinds of […]

Hey, look: Denver has a bike-sharing program

Courtesy B-cycleDenver today launches the nation’s largest bike-sharing program, distributing 500 bicycles at 50 stations around the city for citizens to use wherever they find them. The B-cycle program mirrors bike-sharing networks in Paris and Montreal, and it’ll be followed soon by networks in Boston and Minneapolis. Oh, and Mexico City too, which is launching […]

Win a signed copy of ‘In the Empire of Ice’!

Welcome back, dear readers, to another Grist book giveaway. There are prizes at stake here, so listen up. We’re giving away 10 autographed copies of Gretel Ehrlich’s new book In the Empire of Ice. To nab one, all you have to do is answer this question — in 400 words or less: “How is climate […]

How Bolivia celebrates Earth Day

This morning my email inbox was full of advocacy groups commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. As the ecological systems that support life are reaching their brink, there is certainly a good reason to use this opportunity to shine a spotlight on a range of issues and challenges. But activist organizations aren’t alone in […]

Erika Allen

Art: Nat Damm Erika Allen Projects Manager, Growing Power Chicago, Ill. Erika Allen grew up on a farm in Rockville, Md., working in the fields with her father. “We didn’t have a TV and we relied on a wood stove, but we were known as the ‘food family’ because we had so much food. We […]

Chandrasekhar “Spike” Narayan

Art: Nat Damm Chandrasekhar “Spike” Narayan Leader of Science and Technology Organization, IBM’s Almaden Research Center Silicon Valley, Calif. Spike Narayan and his team at IBM’s Almaden Research Center work on bleeding-edge technologies that are at the nexus of efforts to create a sustainable world—endlessly recyclable plastics, lithium-air batteries that could dramatically extend the range of electric cars, and […]

Jack Newman

Art: Nat Damm Jack Newman Cofounder and Senior Vice President of Research, Amyris Berkeley, Calif. He may look like an amiable Deadhead, but Jack Newman, 44—that would be Dr. Newman to you—is a Berkeley microbiologist who cofounded Amyris, a start-up that went from bioengineering a microbe to produce an anti-malarial drug to genetically tweaking a […]

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 […]

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. […]