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Why freezer burn matters, and how to avoid it

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 Lou, What’s the deal with freezer burn, that white discoloration that occurs when something is left in the freezer too long? What […]

Scenes from Mile High Stadium

Here are some photos I took from the crowd at Mile High Stadium on Thursday night for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention:

Natural disasters, evacuated oil rigs might cause a PR disaster for the GOP

According to the Washington Post, Republican officials are considering delaying their convention in St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which might hit the Gulf Coast as a full-force hurricane next week. If it does reach land during their convention, it would hit a sore spot for Republicans, whose current representative in the White House […]

Obama calls out climate and energy in his big acceptance speech

Thursday’s much anticipated acceptance speech by Barack Obama was less like a political event than a rock concert. Except you’ve never seen people quite this excited at a rock concert. Obama took the stage before 75,000 fans waving flags, stomping, and screaming. Among the many issues he addressed in his long, winding oration, he pledged […]

Al Gore says Barack Obama is the man to solve the climate crisis

Al Gore. Al Gore, one of the headline speakers this evening at Mile High Stadium, spoke at length about the challenges of climate change and energy. “We are facing a planetary emergency, which is not like anything we have experienced in the history of humankind,” he said. Gore emphasized that there’s a common answer to […]

Obama to tout clean coal, nuclear, and renewables in his big speech

David and I are in Invesco Field, among tens of thousands of delegates, reporters, and Denver residents awaiting Barack Obama’s acceptance speech tonight. We’re glad to be inside — outside the line snakes more than a mile out from the stadium. They’re expecting more than 75,000 attendees tonight, and the security line is a giant […]

Brookings calls for action on climate change in WaPo op-ed

The uber-centrist Brookings Institution joins the climate alarmist realist crowd. President Strobe Talbott and VP for foreign policy studies Carlos Pascual explain in a Washington Post op-ed: The world may have only seven years to start reducing the annual buildup in greenhouse gas emissions that otherwise threatens global catastrophe within several decades. The politics are […]

Former Energy Secretary Federico Pena talks to Grist about energy, climate, and security

[vodpod id=Video.16318322&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] We interviewed former Energy Secretary Federico Peña shortly after his Tuesday night convention speech on energy, the economy, and security. Peña was secretary of transportation from 1993 to 1997, then secretary of energy from 1997 to 1998, under President Bill Clinton:

T. Boone Pickens embraces progressive policies but not progressive politicians

I interviewed the billionaire conservative oilman for Salon. My article and the interview are now online here. My goal was not to trip him up with the flaws in his plan, but just to explore some of the key issues, especially the role of government in making it happen. Talking to him it is clear […]

Grist tries (unsuccessfully) to find out Rep. John Dingell’s climate and energy plans

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) spoke yesterday at an event sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation — “I Fish, I Hunt, I Vote Conservation” — where he talked up conservation efforts and the common ground Democrats have with sportsmen. We tried to get Dingell, who is notoriously tight-lipped, to tell us […]