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Environmental crimes rampant and under-investigated, report says

Environmental crimes such as illegal logging, trade in endangered species, illegal fishing, and trade in banned refrigerants are rampant and growing, according to a report from the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency. Organized-crime networks are raking in over $10 billion a year through commission of environmental crimes, and national and international police organizations are doing little […]

Colo. Democrat Mark Udall talks to Grist about energy issues and his tough Senate race

One of the most lively debates over energy and environmental policy is taking place in Colorado’s Senate race this year, where Rep. Mark Udall (D) and former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) are duking it out in the race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R). Bob Schaffer. Schaffer represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District from […]

Brooks Brothers rioter turns attention to energy this election season

This post was originally published on the website of the Center for Public Integrity and is reposted on Grist with CPI’s kind permission. —– An advocacy group run by a political operative with oil industry ties (and a famous photo-op history) is spearheading a late advertising blitz to sway Senate races, spending more than $650,000 […]

King of the Hill takes on green

Last Sunday, Fox’s animated show King of the Hill ran an episode called “Earthy Girls Are Easy.” (You can watch the full episode here.) I was excited when I heard about it. KotH is a brilliant show, the only one on television that pokes fun at low-income rural white people in a way that is […]

McCain’s ‘Farm and Ranch Team’ is chock full of agribiz heavies

In a recent Victual Reality column, I gave John McCain his due for holding fast to his positions against crop and biofuel subsidies — even if his overall farm policies generally suck. In an attempt to boost his flailing campaign and shore up support in the Farm Belt, the self-declared maverick may be abandoning those […]

Will we see $3 gasoline before $5?

A: It certainly looks that way. When I first posed this question in August, I began my answer: A: "Who knows?" and "It doesn’t really matter." Much higher gasoline prices that are sustained for a long, long time are now inevitable. The fundamentals in the oil market are that we are in the beginning stages […]

Maps, videos, and images from our cross-country travels

It’s been almost three weeks since I left Seattle to meet up with a total stranger and drive across the country in search of hope for a sustainable future. Well, hope we found — pretty much everywhere we looked. It was like a hope buffet, if you will, and believe you me, we tried to […]

What would you do with $700 billion?

A little while back CNN hosted an interesting discussion called “dreaming of a climate bailout.” It ran through a few ideas for what $700 billion could do if spent on green initiatives. (3,700 90MW offshore wind farms! Etc.) It’s worth reading. Also dear to my heart is this elegant op-ed from James Carroll. It points […]

Friday music blogging: Eliza Gilkyson

According to dozens of experts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, we’re heading into a recession that will be the worst in 50 years, with at least three consecutive quarters of less-than-zero growth. Millions of homeowners face foreclosure, trillions of dollars have been lost in the stock market, and we’re going to see a spike […]

‘What is a carbon cap and how will it cure our oil addiction?’

A contest to explain something that isn’t true — what a novelty. If I were running a contest, it would be, "What is a carbon cap and why should it not cover the transportation sector?" But I digress. So I get an email from the Environmental Defense Fund asking me to direct my readers to […]