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House climate bill could get fast-tracked

The sponsors of the House climate and energy bill were supposed to release the final text of their legislation and open it up for debate this week, but the process has stalled out. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) have been trying to come to agreement with moderates on the Energy and Environment […]

Princes, frogs partner to save rainforests

HRH Prince of Wales (that’s His Royal Highness to you peasants) has launched an international online campaign to save the rainforests, appropriately monikered the Prince’s Rainforests Project. Prince Charles is joined by his sons William and Harry, along with a few non-royal celebs like Daniel Craig, the Dalai Lama, and an animated frog, in connecting […]

Green-Collar Jobs, Defined and Counted

“It’s hard to define what a green job actually is.” That’s Michael Myers, an analyst for the Oregon employment department, speaking recently in Florence, on the Oregon Coast, to an audience of anxious members of the local chamber of commerce. He was answering questions about where new employment opportunities will arise and explaining the challenge […]

Cool Companies, Part 1: How the best businesses boost profits and productivity by reducing GHGs

[Please send me any case studies of companies, buildings, and factories in the last 10 years that have cost-effectively reduced and carbon emissions. I am, as always, looking for well-documented cases where a systems approach to energy and carbon achieved deep savings and productivity gains.] Ten years ago next month I published the first collection […]

I may be on the David Letterman show tonight

No, I won’t be talking to Dave.  Alas. A segment called “Andy Kindler Talks to Climate Change experts” is scheduled to air tonight. Now, I’m told “there is always a small chance that the piece could get edited out between tape and air, but for now it’s in.” Plus, none of the people involved have […]

Republican incoherence on climate change

There’s been lots of bashing of Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) here on Grist lately — see Kate here, Brad here — and with good reason. The guy has a good chance of being the next Republican House leader and he is, to put it bluntly, dumb as a box of hair. Guy like this, it’s […]

Smithfield: don’t worry, we’re testing our Mexican hogs for swine flu

For a lobbyist working the Hill on behalf of an industry, the gold standard is self-regulation. No need to send in inspectors — we’ll test our process to ensure that it doesn’t pollute. Trust us! Astonishingly, pork giant Smithfield Foods has evidently managed to arrange just such a testing regime with regard to its hog-rearing […]

Pence repeats $3000 lie about green economy, accuses MIT economist of playing politics

This week, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) not only lied twice on national television about the cost of a green economy, but also accused the MIT economist who has challenged Pence’s distortion of his work of playing politics. Since March, the GOP has repeated a $3000 lie about about cap-and-trade clean energy legislation, claiming that the […]

Memo to Hansen 2: Why is the country’s top anti-science blog reprinting your stuff?

I got a lot of responses to my first Memo to James Hansen on his ill-conceived and unhelpful opposition to Waxman-Markey.  Needless to say, it gives me no joy to criticize the nation’s top climate scientist, a man who inspired me to write my book and this blog, a man whose work is reprinted more […]

Urgent letter to EPA and Interior Dept. from coalfield residents

As three million pounds of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosives continue to rip through the lush green Appalachian mountains and historic mountain communities every day, coalfield residents from West Virginia issued an extraordinary letter on Wednesday asking EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to assert primacy over the negligent West Virginia […]