Latest Articles

William Shatner speaks out against global warming

And again I say: Shatner!

Obama mulls Energy Security Council

The latest, according to "sources close to the transition," is that Obama is thinking of creating an Energy Security Council, modeled on the National Security Council. This was, of course, one of Hillary Clinton’s signature proposals, though she called it the National Energy Council. Interestingly, the idea seems to be coming from John Podesta, who […]

The intellectual bankruptcy of conservatism: Heritage even opposes energy efficiency

Conservative think tanks remain oblivious and impervious to the facts. They cling to global warming denial and delay even in the face of the remarkable advances both in scientific understanding about global warming and in clean technology solutions. They provide the foundational misanalysis (disanalysis?) for the entire conservative movement — although “movement” must be the […]

A very long review of Friedman’s latest book

Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded condenses much of what has been written in blogs, science journals, and books about the “Energy-Climate-Era,” as he calls it. Though he’s a little late out off the starting blocks, Friedman’s contribution has great value, because it will reach people who only read books on bestseller lists — and then […]

Q. Does daylight savings time save energy?

A. According to this UC Berkeley Energy Institute study [PDF], DST does not save energy. Usage goes up about 1 percent, mostly due to people calling other people to tell them to change their clocks. A better solution would be to just have permanent summer.

Nader’s challenge

“Whatever you think of Nader’s jeremiad, it is exceedingly timely. Democrats are on the brink of losing their old excuses for timidity and retreat. If the election produces stronger majorities in Congress and a president who has promised big change, Nader’s analysis will be tested in the clearest terms. For the first time in thirty […]

Green investment does create jobs

Robert Pollin has issued a direct rebuttal, “Green Investments and Jobs,” to the Heritage Foundation’s lame “debunking” of Green Recovery, a study Pollin co-authored for the the Center for American Progress. My line-by-line response to the disanalysis by Heritage’s Donald Kreutzer is here. Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at U. Mass-Amherst, concludes: […]

Stella McCartney named green designer of the year

<img alt="Stella McCartney" src="http://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/stella-mccartney_v150.jpg" vspace="0" border="0" hspace="0"> Photo: Peter Larsen/ WireImage.com Beatle offspring Stella McCartney was named the first-ever Green Designer of the Year at the Accessories Council Excellence Awards earlier this week. The vegetarian fashion designer doesn’t use leather or fur in her designs, and seeing as her mom was animal-rights activist Linda Eastman […]

Scientists eye rock that converts CO2 to solid mineral

A rock that converts carbon dioxide into a solid mineral form could be wrangled into the global-warming fight, say geologists publishing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The rock, called peridotite, is found commonly in Earth’s mantle but occasionally shows up on the surface of the globe as well, mainly in the continent […]

Green space lessens socioeconomic health gap, says study

The health disparity between rich and poor folk is much smaller in areas with plenty of parks and green space, according to a large study published in British medical journal The Lancet. Says lead author Richard Mitchell, “This is the first time we have demonstrated that aspects of the physical environment can have an impact […]