Latest Articles
-
![]()
![]()
Building a Green Tea Party
A leading thinker on the left recently wrote that elite authorities have failed us and require grassroots input to become accountable. A leading thinker on the right recently wrote that centralized authorities have failed us and should be balanced by stronger local economic, political, and social networks. Now Woody Tasch of the Slow Money Alliance […]
-
Without major capital investments, this generation of Americans will short change the next
From 1980 to 2007, total U.S. electricity consumption increased by a factor of 1.8, but total generation capacity increased by only 1.7 times. In other words, demand out-grew supply. For a while, that was fine — we had more toys than we needed, and real power prices declined for two decades as we made better […]
-
![]()
![]()
Stuff your own Twinkies, then stuff your face
Editor’s note: In his book Food Rules, Michael Pollan declares, “Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” The idea is that by cooking at home, you’ll avoid all the unpronounceable chemicals found in store-bought junk. And even though you might gorge on it, you can only eat as […]
-
![]()
![]()
What can the health-care act teach the food movement?
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton celebrate healthcare reform. Will food reformers ever get to celebrate a wide-ranging policy victory? Photo: White HouseWhat follows is the first of a two-post series. “This is what change looks like,” declared a triumphant President Obama after the House had narrowly passed an historic healthcare-reform bill. What would […]
-
Ask Umbra knocks off Twinkies organically [VIDEO]
You’ve heard of knockoff purses, but have you ever heard of knockoff junk food? Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules encourages us to make our own junk food. Yep, eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself. Umbra takes junk food into her own hands and shows how to make […]
-
American Enterprise Institute accidentally makes the case for climate legislation
Several folks have already taken note of this but I wanted to add a few thoughts. Mark Perry at the American Enterprise Institute seems to be inadvertently making the case for climate change legislation. First, he lists a series of things environmentalists predicted would happen assuming business-as-usual levels of pollution. Then, using this chart, he […]
-
Without affordable clean alternatives, South Africa turns to coal
South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, has an op ed in the Washington Post that illustrates the multi-faceted challenges facing developing nations as they struggle to provide the affordable access to modern energy needed to pull citizens out of poverty. The piece highlights the current tension between such objectives and simultaneous concerns about the environmental […]
-
Love your mother: Vote for Grist’s MILF video in the Telly Awards
Remember last year when Grist said, Screw Earth Day? (What with every day being Earth Day, yadda yadda yadda.) Well, our fine and funny MILF video celebrating, er, loving your mother the right and wrong way, has been nominated for a Telly Award, which honors the “very best in video, film, and commercials.” Thanks, Telly, […]
-
![]()
![]()
Tapping the power of energy efficiency
One of the fastest-growing states in the nation has the potential to save its residents billions of dollars over the next decade and a half and create thousands of new jobs to boot. How? By adopting several common-sense policies to save energy and investing more in clean-energy research. So concludes a new report focused on […]
-
![]()
![]()
Glenn Beck’s survival guide: Food and energy independence
Thinking I’d catch some of the conservative side-show after health care passed, I moseyed over to Glenn Beck’s website to find out when the healthpocalypse will destroy “our” America. But I found something even more shocking. More evidence for Beck’s closet treehugging is coming to the surface. Colbert slammed Beck a few weeks ago for […]
