Latest Articles

Day of Climate Action shows power of web organizing. Join us!

Bill McKibben and Chip Giller want you to get pumped up for the International Day of Climate Action.   When Grist was launched 10 years ago, a key idea behind it was that the web could be used to spread the news about what’s really happening across the planet. Turned out to be true. Now […]

Will EPA veto or regulate the plunder of Appalachia?

Big News: In a historic move, Lisa Jackson’s EPA threw down the gauntlet on mountaintop removal mining last Friday — after they had just compromised on another massively destructive mountaintop removal operation. Is this the beginning of the end of the plunder of Appalachia — or is the EPA moving sideways to regulate what its […]

Chamber plays the fool in Yes Men hoax

Another brilliant stunt from the Yes Men: the New York pranksters sent out a fake press release this morning, pretending to be from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is reversing its opposition to the clean energy bill in Congress. It’s had a change of heart. It’s now taking climate change seriously, the press […]

Coalfield uprising leads to arrests at W.Va. gov’s office

Lorelei Scarbro speaking with Gov. Joe ManchinPhoto: Chris EichlerAs a supportive crowd sang, “This land is your land, this land is my land,” seven peaceful sit-in activists were arrested in Governor Joe Manchin’s office at the West Virginia state capitol at 5 p.m. this afternoon, as part of the growing national coalfield uprising to stop […]

A little heresy on transmission

The last thing renewable energy needs right now are new transmission lines. This statement is heresy in the green community, but there’s a danger that the increasing focus of green energy advocates on a new nationwide transmission superhighway may undermine the pursuit of near-term renewable energy goals. People are excited by renewable energy.  It’s clean.  […]

So what if global warming is a hoax?

Maybe they’re right. Maybe the rightwing crazies have a point. Maybe global warming has all been part of vast leftwing conspiracy to stop us from funding terrorist states to the tune of $1 trillion a year through our oil imports; maybe the real agenda of the socialists is to reduce our use of coal, since […]

Report: Forest conservation can be as reliable as other ways of reducing pollution

Photo: Mongabay A combination of dramatic technological advances, experience, and application of a little common sense has markedly increased scientists’ confidence in their ability to monitor forest conservation projects for their climate impact. As The Eliasch Review [PDF], the U.K. Government’s authoritative recent report on forest-climate science and policy, put it, “Using appropriate techniques, forest […]

Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) [UPDATED]

Lisa Murkowski Sen. Lisa Murkowski is open to voting for a cap-and-trade climate bill if it would aggressively boost nuclear power and domestic oil and gas drilling, she said in a C-SPAN interview aired on Oct. 18.  “Count me as one of those who will keep my mind open as we move forward,” she said.  […]

For public transportation to survive, we all need to … drive more?

Traffic is the answer!richardmasoner via flickrMeant to mention these two pieces last week, but things fell apart, as they say. (Do “they” say that, or is it just me?) Both relate to the connection between cars and public transportation, and both are a bit counterintuitive. The first, an op-ed by David Owen in the Wall […]

If the grass looks greener, it’s important to understand the nature of the fence

Cross-posted from The Bellows. One of the things about politics is that solutions always seem easier to implement and more promising before they stand a real chance of being implemented. People who have for one reason or another fallen in love with the idea of a carbon tax watch the difficulty Congress is having negotiating […]