Latest Articles

NOAA: Fourth warmest May on record; model predicts a long and strong El Niño

Fast on the heels of the fifth warmest April on record, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center reports: Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the fourth warmest on record for May, the fifth warmest for boreal spring (March-May), and tied with 2003 as the sixth warmest January-May year-to-date […]

Phony coal map distorts clean energy bill costs

You have to hand it to the coal industry.  They are not content to just spend millions of dollars on “wild and crazy” advertising claims about “clean coal.” Now, they are bringing those same mad skills of deception to mapmaking.  Yes, you read that right:   We are now looking at lying via cartography. This colorful […]

Contesting on occupied terrain

“I am open and I am willingFor to be hopeless would seem so strangeIt dishonors those who go before usSo lift me up to the light of change.” “I Am Willing,” by Holly Near There is much evidence to indicate that there will be a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives next […]

One man’s plan to re-create suburbia, sans cars

California’s East Bay — the collection of towns, cities, and suburbs across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco — has a lot to boast about. There’s the perpetually great weather, enlightened inhabitants, and a halfway decent, if in my opinion overpriced, public transit system in the form of BART. Yet despite BART’s 43 stations spanning […]

Worried about international competition? Another look at the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade proposal

The potential impacts of proposed U.S. climate policies on the competitiveness of U.S. industries is a major political issue, and it was one of the key issues in the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives in the design of Henry Waxman and Edward Markey’s H.R. 2454 (the American Clean Energy and Security […]

Congress gives green light to “cash for clunkers” bill; Obama to sign

The “cash for clunkers” bill is now headed to President Barack Obama’s desk, and he’s expected to sign it enthusiastically. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden personally lobbied senators to support the bill, helping stave off a Republican-led effort to kill it. The bill ultimately passed the Senate on Thursday as part of a large […]

Symptom: High utility bills; Diagnosis: Full energy efficiency workup

Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / Grist The red Honda Fit from a local car-sharing service pulls into the driveway of a suburban San Francisco Bay-area home, and two clean-cut young guys in khaki jump out and start unloading a Ghostbusters array of gadgets — something resembling a giant black megaphone, a glowing tube attached […]

White House and enviros amp up efforts to pass climate bill in House

The House is gearing up to vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act as soon as next week, and both the White House and environmental groups are planning a full-court press to get it passed. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), coauthor of the bill, has said he is “very close” to making a final deal […]

Ohio officials tout plans for new nuclear power plant

Ohio media sources are reporting that Piketon, a small town 60-miles south of Columbus, could be in line to get a new nuclear power plant. Gov. Ted Strickland (D), Sen. George Voinovich (R), Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) and officials from Duke Energy and French nuclear company Areva were in Piketon Thursday to announce plans for […]

Beer Soap turns lager into lather, and more

BudwasherNext time you bathe, boys, lager up with a bar of Beer Soap, guaranteed to do a better job of attracting the ladies than, uh, just the beer alone.   (Click below to see the next item in this week’s Grist List—or view them all on a single page.)             […]