Latest Articles

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.)             […]

Negotiations are all well and good, but where’s the bling bling?

With less than six months to go before Copenhagen, the global climate negotiations are at a pivotal moment. After a two-week negotiating session in Bonn, the negotiations are turning the corner. Or are they? For the first time, negotiators in Bonn debated the draft text of a global deal – a mixed bag of good, […]

The Climate Post: Gimme your wallet–or else the forest here gets it

The Obama administration this week released a 196-page plain-language report that describes predicted future impacts of climate change on the U.S. The report comes during a week of inconclusive negotiation among key House lawmakers on climate legislation, and as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passes what could be the third energy bill in […]

House GOP circulating anti–climate bill document created by coal lobby

[See updates below.] It’s no secret that the fossil-fuel industry produces many of the talking points Republicans use to scare voters about energy legislation. Usually, though, dirty energy execs don’t literally sign on as authors. House Republicans are circulating a PowerPoint document that purports to show the regional breakdown of costs for energy consumers under […]