Latest Articles

Obama expected to tap Richardson to head Commerce

Various news outlets are reporting that President-elect Obama has settled on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to serve as Commerce secretary, adding another Clinton veteran to the incoming Cabinet. Richardson was Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1997 to 1998, and Energy secretary from 1998 to 2000. The secretary of Commerce, according to the […]

Obama appears likely to tap Rep. Raúl Grijalva for Sec. of Interior

Raúl Grijalva. Over the weekend, several news sources reported that Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) is the top name on Obama’s list to head the Interior Department, a job that would put him in charge of federal lands, national parks and endangered species. Grijalva has represented Arizona’s 7th district since 2003, and has racked up […]

PBS’s Now on green jobs

For some reason they don’t allow their videos to be embedded on other sites — luddites! — but if you want to click over and watch it, PBS’s show NOW recently did an episode on green jobs. As it happens, NOW also interviewed Grist’s Dear Leader Chip Giller on the subject. Check it out.

Western Shoshone tribe files suit against gold mine on sacred mountain

Members of the Western Shoshone Indian tribe have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management seeking to stop a just-approved open-pit gold mine from digging up what they say is a sacred mountain in Nevada to get at some 5 million ounces of gold. If the project continues ahead as planned, the […]

Cemetery in Spanish town doubles as solar power plant

A small Spanish town crammed for space has started using its cemetery as the primary site for a solar power plant, affixing solar panels atop many of the mausoleums. “The best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations,” said a solar rep […]

Federal court upholds Michigan’s clean-ballast-water law

A Michigan state law requiring oceangoing ships to keep their ballast water onboard or treat the water to kill any live organisms before discharging it into the Great Lakes has been upheld by a federal appeals court. So far, over 180 different invasive species have made a home in the lakes — many of them […]

Rescuers save 11 whales after mass stranding

Most of the 64 pilot whales that were stranded on a beach in Tasmania this weekend have died, but rescuers were eventually able to save 11 of them by moving them to another beach where they could more easily reach the sea. The reason for the mass stranding is unknown, though some activists speculated that […]

A taxonomy of denial

As a climate scientist, I have become fascinated with climate skeptics. What makes them tick? Do they believe what they’re saying? A while back, I suggested cognitive dissonance may play a role. Public Radio International has an interesting story on denial. Turns out that, much like a Neapolitan ice cream, it comes in several flavors: […]

Dingell’s fatal blunder — refusal to compromise

The NY Times has the background story on just how Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) beat John Dingell (D-MI) for chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. The turning point was Dingell’s rejection of a truce that Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the No. 2 Democrat in the House, was trying to broker: Two days after […]

Reflections on the Governors’ Climate Summit

The Governors’ Climate Summit was bookended by two striking visuals. The first was President-elect Barack Obama, kicking off the proceedings with a recorded message that stated in clear, unequivocal terms that the federal government is back in the game; governors, mayors, and companies working to battle climate change will have an active partner in Washington, […]