Articles

Schwarzenegger mandates 33 percent renewables by 2030

GreenTechMedia reports: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday signed an executive order that would speed up renewable energy development and require 33 percent of utilities’ electrical power to come from renewable sources by 2030. The governor is aiming to use Executive Order S-14-08 to compel two state agencies, the California Energy Commission and the Department […]

Joseph Romm Climate & Energy

Colombian vice prez chides cocaine users for rainforest destruction

Cocaine users get no love from Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos Calderon, who speechified to police officers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Tuesday: “Colombia has lost more than [5 million acres] of rainforest in the last 15 years to plant coca. If you snort a gram of cocaine you are destroying [43 square feet] of […]

Grist staff Culture

‘Meet the Press’ takes on cars and energy independence

This Sunday, “Meet the Press” was devoted to the auto industry’s travails and to energy independence. (They decided to go totally counterintuitive and have … T. Boone Pickens as a guest. Isn’t that guy’s 15 minutes over yet?) Also, Thomas Friedman was one of the roundtablers. Here’s the video: [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011974&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D27751726%26width%3D400%26height%3D320]

David Roberts Climate & Energy

Obama affirms commitment to climate change, but won’t be going to Poland

Barack Obama won’t be attending the next round of international climate talks next month in Poland, nor is he in Los Angeles today for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s conference on climate change. But the president-elect insists that his administration will be a leader in the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. “While I won’t be president […]

Kate Sheppard Politics

Harper proposes joint climate pact that would protect Alberta oil sands

The Globe and Mail reported last week: Less than 24 hours after the election of Barack Obama, Canadian cabinet ministers begin calling for a pact that would keep emissions down while protecting Alberta’s oil sands projects This is Canada’s version of “Two tens for a five?” Seriously, Canada, just a couple of days into his […]

Joseph Romm Climate & Energy

President-elect sends YouTube message to governors

President-elect Barack Obama released a video message to attendees of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s summit on climate change, which is convening today in Los Angeles. Obama’s video is below. More Grist reporting and analysis to come:

Grist staff Uncategorized

Emissions of Kyoto signatory countries on the rise, U.N. says

Collectively, the 40 industrialized nations that agreed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol have met their goal of cutting emissions to an average of about 5 percent below 1990 levels, the United Nations reported this week. But some of the biggest reductions were due to economic declines in central and eastern European countries […]

Grist staff Politics

Two studies point to ecosystem damage from factory-style farming

How does chemical-intensive, concentrated agriculture affect surrounding ecosystems — and ones that lie downstream from large operations? Seems like a key question, given that upwards of 95 percent of our food comes from such agricultural methods. Yet there has been surprisingly little study of it. For example, when the meat industry started to rapidly consolidate […]

Tom Philpott Food

Obama names long-time Waxman aide as his assistant for legislative affairs

Over the weekend, the Obama transition team announced a few new key members of the White House staff, including Phil Schiliro, who will serve as assistant to the president for legislative affairs. This will be someone to watch, as Schiliro was a long-time aide to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who has called for aggressive climate […]