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Big Ag aims its pitchfork at historic climate legislation

Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / GristLike a tractor inching through a wet field, the Waxman-Markey climate legislation slowed to a crawl last week, on the verge of getting stuck. The bill’s authors still have to deal with plenty of mud, but it’s now looking like they will get a vote by Friday of this […]

White House refuses to disclose information on meetings with coal executives

Is the White House taking a page from Dick Cheney’s playbook by refusing to disclose who’s visiting the West Wing to lobby on energy and climate issues? Much like the preceding administration, Team Obama is fighting to keep White House visitor logs secret. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonpartisan watchdog group, […]

Anthology features Americans’ personal stories of global warming

Union of Concerned Scientists“I knew climate change had no boundaries,” writes Michelle Nijhuis, prominent science writer and Grist contributor, in Thoreau’s Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming, “even so, I didn’t expect to see its effects on the shores of Walden Pond.” In what proves to be an appropriate opening to Thoreau’s Legacy, a new […]

Coal is the enemy of West Virginia

I wrote a slightly snotty post about West Virginia recently, in response to Gov. Joe Manchin making coal the state rock. The point was that dependence on coal has produced more misery than benefit for West Virginians — nothing to celebrate. As it happens, at a recent event I had the opportunity to ask Manchin […]

What will the U.S. and other major economies commit to?

I am outside of Mexico City with delegates from the world’s 17 biggest economies who are meeting this week ahead of the next G8 meeting to further negotiate international climate agreements. Issues on the table include funding for forest protection, mid-term and long-term emission reduction targets, and financing for adaption and mitigation. The outcomes from […]

Three-acre organic farm appears in the middle of New York Harbor

Could. Not. Resist. From NYT’s City Room Blog: The sustainable garden with the most exclusive real estate in Washington is no doubt the one at the White House. The sustainable farm with the most exclusive view in New York City is the one that opened on Governors Island last week. Oh. Yeah. Governors Island is […]

Climate activists to descend on House cafeteria on Tuesday

A side of flashmob with your lunch? An unnamed group of climate activists is planning to descend on one of the larger Capitol Hill cafeterias on Tuesday to call for strengthening the American Clean Energy and Security Act. They’re using Craigslist to gather supporters. Here’s the ad: Dear DC-ite. Your presence is requested on Tuesday, […]

Food safety in the 21st century

Just when America thought it was safe to go back into the grocery store, another food outbreak wakes us up to the fact that there is something seriously wrong with its food safety system. This time it’s Nestle Toll House cookie dough with E.coli, a treat that nearly every kid in America reaches for a […]

In first week of wide release, ‘Food Inc.’ gets boost from NYT pundit

Amid Food Inc.’s first weekend in nationwide release, the hard-hitting food-system exposé got a boost from NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof. (I’ll be reviewing the film later this week.) Declared the pundit in his widely read Sunday column: A terrific new documentary, “Food, Inc.,” playing in cinemas nationwide, offers a powerful and largely persuasive diagnosis of […]

350 vs. 450: The heart of the matter

There has never been a civic dispute as precisely quantified as climate. Most U.S. environmental organizations endorse the Waxman-Markey climate bill with the stated goal of keeping atmospheric greenhouse gases below 450 parts per million. The conservative position enunciated by Jim Hansen, advanced by Bill McKibben and 350.org, and endorsed by a handful of climate […]