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Collin Peterson apes Sensenbrenner, fears ‘catalytic converter’ for cows

Cross-posted from Wonk Room. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) has wielded his power as the chair of the House Agriculture Committee to shape clean energy legislation on behalf of industrial agriculture interests. Peterson’s efforts to limit environmental regulation of industrial farmers in the American Clean Energy and Security Act may have been motivated by the hundreds […]

Throwing out the throwaway economy

Photo: Editor BThe stresses in our early twenty-first century civilization take many forms–social, economic, environmental, and political. One distinctly unhealthy and visible illustration of all four is the swelling flow of garbage associated with a throwaway economy. Throwaway products were first conceived following World War II as a convenience and as a way of creating […]

South Dakota Sen. Johnson comes out in favor of passing climate bill

Sen. Tim JohnsonSouth Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson (D), listed as one of our fence-sitters on climate legislation, seems to be taking more of a strident stance in favor of passing a bill this year. In a column he recently penned and posted on his Senate website, Johnson argues that the climate change bill “could bring […]

Teddy Roosevelt and the search for new ‘wilderness warriors’

Theodore Roosevelt had his delicate spots—he was an asthmatic child and later a naturalist who reveled in birdwatching. But 100 years after his presidency, the image of him that endures is decidedly more swaggering—an outdoorsman who loved to hunt, a mountaineer, a populist who thundered against corporate “despoilers” of the public welfare. He also left […]

Veterans push for climate bill with new ‘Operation Free’ coalition

A new coalition of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is hoping to counter the oil industry–backed “Energy Citizens” rallies with its own call to pass a climate bill and end dependence on fossil fuels. Under the name of Operation Free, the group aims to rally other vets to the cause. “We’re a coalition of leading veterans […]

If progressives want a Clean Energy Bank, they need better economics

One of the most excellent pieces of the climate bill now awaiting defenestration at the hands Senate Blue Dogs is its creation of a Clean Energy Bank that would help finance nascent clean energy projects. More specifically, it is “an autonomous Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) within the Energy Department” that would “provide a suite […]

Cash-for-Clunkers to end Monday night, for real this time

Photo: billadayThe “Cash for Clunkers” program has been so successful that it will have to be wrapped up earlier than expected, the Obama administration announced on Thursday. Folks looking to turn in their fuel-hogging old cars will need to get their deals finalized by this Monday, Aug. 24, at 8 p.m. EST in order to […]

Sustainable ag meets the MSM — and wins!

TIME Magazine‘s current cover story wants you to know that our fossil-fueled, chemically intensive industrial food system is destined to fail. Granted, the second part of that sentence isn’t news to Grist readers. But the first part of that sentence is news. Personally, I wouldn’t have expected to read the following positively Philpottian (if not […]

Former Sen. Tim Wirth stirs up controversy over cap-and-trade, tries to tamp it down

Tim WirthTim Wirth — former Democratic senator from Colorado, former Clinton-era climate negotiator, and current U.N. Foundation president — raised quite a hubbub this week when he told Bloomberg news that the cap-and-trade bill in Congress had “gotten out of control.”  “The Republicans are right — it’s a cap-and-tax bill,” Wirth said. “That’s what it […]

Should greens ally with natural gas against coal?

I was fully prepared to hate this op-ed from T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner, mainly because Pickens is kind of shady and I’m generally sick of rich old establishment white guys telling us how to transform our energy systems. However! It turned out to be pretty good — far better than what you normally […]