Latest Articles

Big Ag on climate change: “What, me worry?”

Once again, topics covered at length in the pixels of Grist are slowly percolating out into the wider media world. Newsweek over the weekend posted an article by Jeneen Interlandi about the grave effects of climate change on agriculture, summed up as the triple threat of “droughts, bugs and big storms.” And once again, we […]

No, Copenhagen is not dead. Quite the reverse — prospects for a global deal have never been be

The usually savvy Mother Jones reporter, David Corn, has published a flawed analysis, “Is Copenhagen dead” (original here, repost here). The media has a herd mentality when it comes to reporting on all things presidential — either you’re up or you’re down.  Indeed, the media likes to build up politicians and then tear them down.  So it is with […]

Time magazine names me one of the ‘Heroes of the Environment 2009’

I have to admit — sometimes Joe Romm ruins my mornings. As the author of Climate Progress, one of the most influential global-warming blogs on the Internet, few debates on energy or the environment get past his ravenous attention, and he takes particular pleasure in targeting mainstream journalists who’ve written something he deems stupid. That’s […]

Markey spokesman questions Breakthrough Institute

September 28, 2009 “Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.” Those words, “attributed” to the 18th century English essayist Samuel Johnson, are a perfect summation of the oeuvre of The Breakthrough Institute (TBI).  So it is with […]

Obama is going to Copenhagen to push Chicago’s Olympic bid this week

President Barack Obama, who initially planned to let First Lady Michelle Obama represent the United States in Copenhagen this week, when the International Olympic Committee chooses a site for the 2016 summer games, plans to travel there too…. “There is no greater expression of the support our bid enjoys, from the highest levels of government […]

Washington Post doubles down on fact-free climate denial

Is there any media outlet that enables global warming denial more effectively than the Washington Post? After today’s op-ed from one of the top deniers in the world, the latest in a long line of denial op-eds, you have to wonder. While Fox “News,” Rush Limbaugh, the Wall Street Journal, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review all deliver […]

Bangkok: Day one of the U.N. climate negotiations

Coming right off the heels of the U.N. General Assembly in New York and the G20 in Pittsburgh, the world has taken its next step on the road to Copenhagen: the Bangkok round of negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This morning the Thai Prime Minister opened the session by […]

Ask Umbra on drafty houses

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I’ve heard that tightening up a leaky house is one of the best energy conservation tactics out there. Energy audits could save an enormous amount of fuel. My wife is very much opposed to this because she places a high value on fresh air exchange. Are there […]

No Impact Man talks about making an impact

First, Colin Beavan donned a superhero nickname and gave up electricity, fossil fuels, un-local food, and buying stuff. He blogged, he wrote a book, he let filmmakers follow his family around (his wife and daughter were roped in too). The New Yorker criticized the stunt, er, experiment. Grist weighed in. Beavan responded to, um, the […]

Corn Ethanol Hoses Police Fleet

According to Green Inc., lab tests have confirmed that a high ethanol blend was to blame for taking about 70 police cars out of service in Baltimore. At first it was suspected that diesel had contaminated the fuel. Here is a video of the mechanics flushing out the fuel injectors. According to the maintenance supervisor […]