Latest Articles

How Hurricane Katrina turned me into a citrus fanatic and marmalade maker

Jewels of winter: Kumquats from L’Hoste Organic Citrus Farm in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Photo: April McGreger For a long time, I never really saw citrus fruits. Lemon, limes, oranges, and even grapefruits were just fruits I often had in my fridge–nice, but unremarkable. All of that changed in 2005. That’s when I realized that, like […]

Hottest January in UAH satellite record

Yes, the mid-Atlantic region appears headed toward an epic snow storm as “amazing moisture feeds into what is already a gigantic system,” according to the Capital Weather Gang. But while the anti-science crowd will no doubt tout that as evidence we aren’t warming — just as they did with the “cold snap” in early January […]

American Spectator has nice things to say about me!

I don’t normally agree with the uber-conservative American Spectator — and vice versa (see here).   But there is, as they say, a first time for everything. In a piece titled, “Norm Coleman’s Right-Wing CAP,” their assistant managing editor writes about the Center for American Progress (CAP), where I work: Another feature that sets CAP apart […]

Penn State inquiry finds no evidence for allegations against Michael Mann

An academic inquiry into the so-called “climategate” email scandal has concluded that a well-known U.S. scientist did not directly or indirectly falsify data in his research. The review, by a panel of senior administrators at Pennsylvania State University, found no evidence that climatologist Michael Mann had manipulated research that indicates humans are causing global warming. […]

Yes, Obama is still pursuing clean air, clean energy jobs bill that puts a price on carbon pollution

Today, in an extended set of remarks at a town hall meeting in Nashua New Hampshire, the President once again strongly endorsed a comprehensive bill that combines energy and climate policy — and sets a price on carbon: The concept of incentivizing clean energy so that it’s the cheaper, more effective kind of energy is […]

Groundhog Decade: We’re stuck in a bad movie, where it’s always the hottest decade on re

0 Somewhere on a Hollywood movie set for Groundhog Day, Part 2: Bill Murray wakes up to find he’s just lived through the hottest decade on record, just as he did in the 1990s, just as he did in the 1980s.  And he keeps waking up in the hottest decade on record, until he gains […]

Hello, Dal-ly: curried red lentils

 In Tom’s Kitchen, Grist’s food editor discusses some of the quick-and-easy things he gets up to in, well, his kitchen. He thinks the column name sucks–please help him rename it. Email ideas to tphilpott[at]grist[dot]org. Forgive him for the lame iPhone photography. ———- Mise en place: getting it together in Tom’s kitchen. Photo: Tom PhilpottOn page […]

Whatever happened to the government’s war on raw milk? Just a shift in tactics

When the current phase of a nearly century-long government campaign to convince American consumers to abandon raw milk launched in 2006, heavy-handed intimidation tactics were the order of the day. Kentucky farmer Gary Oakes was questioned so intensively by agents from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and U.S. Food and Drug Administration while delivering milk […]

The people speak out in favor of stronger smog standards

I’ve been hospitalized many times with asthma attacks. It’s scary when you can’t catch your breath. When I was young, going to the hospital with asthma was a monthly thing. Now I’m on an adult dose of asthma medicine and the only other way to manage the asthma is to limit my outdoor activities. That’s […]

Me, on Edible Radio

Sometimes when I’m interviewed on the radio, it’s really awkward. The interviewer doesn’t know or understand the topic and asks a senseless question; or I have five seconds to construct the perfect soundbite and flub it; sometimes both. Other times, I get an interlocutor who’s immersed in the topic, puts me at ease, gives me […]