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Actress Rachael Leigh Cook disses drilling

I stopped by the “Bank of America Goes Green” reception on Monday, where they ended up not talking too much about green issues after all, what with the hurricane as the more pressing issue of the moment. But actress Rachael Leigh Cook (of She’s All That fame) was in attendance on behalf of the Creative […]

North Pole an ‘island’ for first time in 125,000 years

The fabled Northwest and Northeast passages are now open. That makes the North Pole an island for the first time in human history, most likely for the first time “since the beginning of the last Ice Age 125,000 years ago.” In the last few days, however, Arctic ice melt has slowed, so we might not […]

U.S. EPA criticizes DOT over fuel-economy standards

Officials at the U.S. EPA have criticized their counterparts at the U.S. Transportation Department lately over the DOT’s proposed fuel-economy standards for vehicles of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015. The EPA has said the DOT used an unreasonably low figure for future gasoline prices — $2.42 a gallon in 2016 and a high of […]

Offshore wind power in U.S. poised to take off

There are no offshore wind turbines generating electricity in U.S. waters yet, but that’s expected to change soon if wind-power advocates and wind developers have their way. The first U.S. offshore wind turbines could be spinning in as little as three to five years if all goes well. The U.S. Interior Department is already conducting […]

RNC: Bipartisanship trumps renewable energy, at least party-wise

Kate and I did the party circuit tonight, and it was … weird. Our first stop was a party thrown by the Bipartisan Policy Center. Grist readers will be familiar with the BPC via its founder and current president Jason Grumet, who is Barack Obama’s top energy and climate adviser. The BPC also threw a […]

Grist talks to Niger Innis about the ‘war on the poor’

After the “War on the Poor” event David and I attended Tuesday morning, we caught Niger Innis of the Congress of Racial Equality for a quick interview about their campaign. The presentation this morning focused on politicians whom Innis accuses of being engaged in a “war on the poor” — all of which, at this […]

Former Democrat Joe Lieberman addresses RNC

Definitely the most anticipated speech tonight — in positive way or a negative way, depending on whom you ask — was that of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) It was also the first official RNC speech to employ the words “global warming.” “If John McCain was just another go-along partisan politician, he never would have led […]

Fred Thompson on moose and exotic dancers

Former Tennessee Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Sarah Palin: “I can say without fear of contradiction that she is the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field-dress a moose … with the possible exception of Teddy Roosevelt.” OK, so there was nothing really environment-related in Thompson’s […]

In convention address via satellite, out-going prez calls for offshore drilling

President George Bush just addressed the convention via satellite from the White House, after deciding coming to the convention during Hurricane Gustav might not be the best plan. The crowd was pretty enthusiastic about the president’s address, despite hard feelings among plenty of people here about Bush’s legacy. Bush made a joke about how voting […]

The party scene is all about the energy debate tonight

The party circuit tonight is oddly exemplary of the energy debate in the country right now. The Minnesota Agri-Growth Council is hosing “AgNite,” where you can be sure that there will be some lively discussion about the ethanol issue. That starts at 8 p.m., and it’s supposedly the hot ticket tonight. Starting at 9 p.m. […]