Latest Articles

How commodity grain farmers have sown the seeds of their demise

In “Dispatches From the Fields,” Ariane Lotti and Stephanie Ogburn, who are working on small farms in Iowa and Colorado this season, share their thoughts on producing real food in the midst of America’s agro-industrial landscape. —– A field of dried soybeans ready to be combined. Although “that time of year” in corn and soybean […]

CFL study argues against a mandate to switch from incandescents

Choose your metaphor: losing sight of the forest for the details of the leaves in the trees, Pyrrhic victory, you name it. All could be applied to this study here, which looks at countries and states according to how much mercury would drop or rise in their air if they switched from incandescent lighting to […]

Houston joins Los Angeles in having ‘severe’ smog problem

Houston has received the dubious honor of becoming the second U.S. city to have a “severe” smog problem, as classified by the U.S. EPA. Los Angeles is its partner in grime. The downgrade from a “moderate” to “severe” smog problem gives Texas’ largest city nine extra years to meet federal air-quality standards. Both Houston and […]

Watch the video and read the transcript

Last night’s vice presidential debate featured an important exchange on climate change. Grist is posting the video and transcript excerpt below: Moderator Gwen Ifill’s question to Sarah Palin: “Governor, I’m happy to talk to you in this next section about energy issues. Let’s talk about climate change. What is true and what is false about […]

Nine states sue EPA over water rule, saying it allows pollution

Nine U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba have sued the U.S. EPA over a regulatory change that exempts transfers of water from one water body to another from Clean Water Act protections. If allowed to stand, the plaintiffs charge, the June administrative ruling would permit ships to dump ballast water in the Great […]

$13 billion Amtrak bill heads to Bush’s desk

The Senate this week voted 74-24 to approve the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act, which would boost funding for Amtrak. With high gas prices and tough economic times pushing more Americans to ride the rails, Congress is aiming to improve rail infrastructure. The five-year, $13 billion bill would fund new safety measures for trains, like […]

152 reps call for future climate bills to be strong and fair

In late April, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the House Select Committee for Energy Independence, joined with Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) to put out a statement of principles for climate legislation. Their framework for future climate bills calls for emissions reductions of 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, the establishment […]

Vice presidential candidates spar on energy and climate issues

Thursday night’s vice presidential debate produced several rows on climate and energy policy, with both candidates making somewhat unexpected claims on their own policy positions. Notably, however, both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin acknowledged that climate change is real and must be addressed — though they clearly didn’t agree fully on what’s causing it or […]

Rate the energy and climate quotes on Ameritocracy

As Ashley Braun noted in an earlier post, Grist recommends checking out Ameritocracy.com and participating in their unique approach to rating the debate. Grist recommends the climate and energy questions in particular. Here’s one on climate change:

Fact-check sound-bites from tonight’s VP debate with Ameritocracy

Call us optimists, but we’re expecting tonight’s much-anticipated vice presidential debate to be littered with sound bites on energy and the environment. After all, Sarah Palin, who “knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America,” will be making her national debut against debate heavyweight Joe Biden. But politicians are […]