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Rep. Massa explains his ‘no’ vote

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) was one of 44 Democrats who voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act (aka Waxman-Markey) on June 26. Massa sent out the following explanation to his campaign email list: On Friday, June 26th, the 111th Congress voted on, and passed the Cap & Trade Climate Bill (H.R. 2454). I […]

Not all green jobs are created equal

The stimulus package and the climate bill recently passed by the US House and now being considered in the Senate will create jobs while delivering a boost to our economy. A “green” stimulus will create approximately three times as many jobs as the same amount of spending in traditional energy industries. But clean energy is […]

How much CO2 do our nation’s coal and gas plants actually produce?

It was the best of half-centuries, it was the worst of half-centuries … Broadly speaking, there are only three things we can do to lower CO2 emissions: switch fuels, use energy more efficiently, or use less energy (conserve). Our CO2 conversations too often focus on one of those three in isolation: Coal bad. Recycled waste […]

Obama garden drama, and other choice morsels from around the Web

The First Lady helps create the world’s most famous kitchen garden. When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web. A high-profile urban garden, two writers, and some vile sludgeAndrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety is one of our most important critics of industrial […]

Mountaintop removal defenders disrupt July 4th music festival in West Virginia

The Mountain Keepers Music Festival took place this place this July 4th weekend at a park on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia, an event organized by the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation in solidarity against mountaintop removal mining. But Saturday’s fun was disrupted when some 20 supporters of Massey Energy, a coal company with mountaintop […]

Top Twitterers the Grist staff can’t live without

Sure, we could compile a list of the “Top 1,000 Greens to Follow on Twitter” — because there are at least that many worthy of the title. But is it just us, or are you curious about who we, the writers and editors at Grist, actually follow and favor on Twitter ourselves? You are? We […]

John Bachar, Our Generation’s Great Hero

As a recreational rock climber and mountaineer, I’ve always seen my work on environmental issues as a natural extension of that passion for the outdoors, and also part of a long tradition: climbers and mountaineers have a long history of moving from their sometimes solipsistic, self-involved, and meaningless-by-definition sport into hugely important and weighty work, […]

American Clean Energy Security Act strengthens U.S. ability to sabotage international climate talks

“The world is not going to turn its back on coal.“U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven ChuThe Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy Security Act (ACES) won’t cut emissions. It won’t serve as a platform we can improve later anymore than the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) served as a foot in the door to improve our democracy when […]

Ask Umbra on green moving companies

Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Hi. I love your column. I just wanted to see if you were aware of the company Mean Green Trucking and Transport … We run our fleet of moving trucks on recycled veggie oil and biodiesel. Our NYC warehouse is solar powered. And we plant a tree […]

New book looks at economic devastation in an Iowa meat-packing town

An Iowa house, no longer neededPhoto: McMorrIt’s become axiomatic that to peer deep into our reliance on fossil energy is to gaze upon human wreckage: bombed-out Baghdad slums, desolated Nigerian townships, or Appalachian communities eviscerated by the removal of mountaintops. The food system has its own war zones, its own spaces of suffering and despair. […]