Latest Articles

Climate-news poem: Protest edition

The International Day of Climate Action spearheaded by 350.org has already kicked off, and will involve more than 4,800 events in 171 countries. Find one near you — and then tell Grist about your big time! Sometimes it can be quite expedient To act all quiet and obedient. But now’s the time, across the land:Get […]

Find an action. Shout 350. Tell us about it!

Will getting to 350 ppm be the great barrier to saving the Great Barrier Reef? Poppy and Jarrah via 350.org Flickr Creative CommonsIn parts of the world, today is already the first-ever International Day of Climate Action in places like New Zealand, but it’s not too late for millions of you to find the biggest, […]

Obama energy speech contained few policy specifics, but shaped forward-looking narrative

Obama speaking on clean energy in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium. Photo: Dominick ReuterObama delivered a speech on energy at MIT on Friday, marking the kick-off for what is likely to be a protracted effort by the administration and Democrats in the Senate to pass the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill. Those hoping for policy substance or firm […]

No wonder public and media seem uniformed

UPDATE:  Yes, bad coverage by big media, including the NYT’s Revkin, is one reason there has been a modest decline since April 2008 in the number of Americans who know that there is solid (in fact, overwhelming) evidence the Earth is warming and humans are the primary cause (see here).  Big media “did” the global […]

Hunters and anglers rally for climate bill

A recent poll by the National Wildlife Federation, which counts more than 420,000 members across 42 states, found that 66 percent of hunters and anglers surveyed believed that global warming was already occurring. A Gallup poll in March 2009 found that only 53 percent of the general population shared the same view. People who spend […]

GOP proposes to cut solar technology funding

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) is continuing his effort to limit the scope and spending of a solar technology bill headed to the House floor today with an amendment that would limit the length of the program and cut its funding levels. Broun has proposed a new amendment to H.R. 3585 that would provide $750 million […]

18 leading scientific organizations send letter to Senators

Here is the letter from 18 top U.S. scientific organizations: Dear Senator: As you consider climate change legislation, we, as leaders of scientific organizations, write to state the consensus scientific view. Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the greenhouse gases emitted by human […]

Bicycles, Trauma Centers, and Injury Severity Scores

Two recent articles have motivated me to do another biking post. First up is this one, from Science Daily Despite the wide-spread attention paid to the importance of wearing helmets, helmet use did not change during the time period of the study, and more than 33 percent of 329 bicycle injury victims had a significant […]

What does the Pew poll mean?

The big news yesterday was a Pew poll showing a precipitous decline in the number of people who believe there is strong scientific evidence for anthropocentric climate change. Jon covered the details pretty well, including some reasons it should be taken with a grain of salt. It’s peculiar that these polls are often taken as […]

Poll finds sharp rise in global warming skepticism

There are good reasons not to get too worked up about public-opinion polling on issues like climate change and energy. Polls confirm, over and over, that the public opinion is malleable—so much rides on the wording of questions. And most people don’t analyze policy in their spare time, so why ask them about cap and […]