Latest Articles

Tough times for agribiz giants — and likely soon for farmers

A few months ago, the "smart money" was pouring into all things agricultural. Corn was flirting with $8/bushel (up from less than $2 as recently as 2005), hedge funds were snapping up farmland everywhere from the Midwest to Africa, and that weird guy who babbles and blusters about stocks on cable TV — Jim Cramer […]

Toyota may develop “Prius on steroids”

Thanks to the persistent popularity of the Prius among American drivers, who buy 65 to 70 percent of all Toyota hybrids sold worldwide, the company is considering developing a bigger, badder version of the gas-sipper. James E. Lentz III, the head of Toyota Motor Sales USA, says he has proposed creating a separate Prius brand […]

Economic downturn and falling oil push green off the priority list, yet again

I keep saying this, possibly to the point of tedium, but I really want to drive it home: as long as going green is viewed as an expensive and vaguely altruistic undertaking, it will never be a top priority. Evidence is everywhere right now. After several years of ceaseless focus on climate and pop culture […]

Full frontal scrutiny

The current Consumer Reports has a quiz to help educate readers about those benign-sounding industry-funded front groups. As CR writes, “You think Americans for Balanced Energy Choices tout solar power? Nope.” Match the groups with their missions (click to enlarge, answers below): Even better, CR has set up a website with the Center for Media […]

The Alliance for Climate Protection says ABC barred ad calling out Big Oil

An environmental action group founded by former vice president Al Gore is accusing ABC of censoring an advocacy ad the group paid to air on the network. The Alliance for Climate Protection late Wednesday sent an e-mail blast to supporters with the ominous subject line, “ABC won’t air our ad.” “Did you notice the ads […]

Canadian oil sands will pollute the Great Lakes

Speaking of studies on oil sands, there’s another one out of the University of Toronto showing that oil sands will pollute the Great Lakes, reversing decades of cleanup efforts in the region. "This expansion promises to bring with it an exponential increase in pollution, discharges into waterways including the Great Lakes, destruction of wetlands, toxic […]

Why current cap-and-trade proposals are more tax than trade

A great frustration for those who (a) really care about reducing CO2, and (b) believe in the power of well-structured market mechanisms is that the current discussion around carbon policy has bastardized the language of environmental economics. There are tremendous economic and environmental benefits to be gained by a true cap-and-trade CO2 system. Unfortunately, all […]

World economic crisis puts climate agreement, CO2 cuts in jeopardy

Worldwide financial turmoil is seriously damaging the chances of the world’s biggest polluters agreeing on a new international climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. U.N. officials and climate experts have said for months now that the world needs to agree on, at the very least, specific emission targets for a new climate treaty by […]

Some Native American tribes see better financial future in wind farms

Some Native American tribes, particularly those on extremely windy reservations, have been pursuing deals lately with wind-power developers, seeing the projects as potentially large and steady sources of income. Overall, Indian reservations are some of the poorest areas in the United States, but federal energy officials and others hope that a boom in wind power […]

Is organic pet food worth the trouble?

In Checkout Line, Lou Bendrick cooks up answers to reader questions about how to green their food choices and other diet-related quandaries. Lettuce know what food worries keep you up at night. —– Dear Grist, I eat organic food; should my dog? What’s the deal with organic dog food and what’s the problem with conventional […]