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EPA scientists spell out dangers of climate change while EPA chief delays action

While EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and the rest of the Bush administration have decided to run out the clock on regulating greenhouse-gas emissions, EPA scientists have released their own document [PDF] detailing the health risks posed by a warming planet, including wildfires, smog, disease, and an increased number of heat-related deaths. The 149-page endangerment analysis […]

Russian researchers abandon shrinking ice floe

Russian scientists are evacuating early from their research base on a shrinking Arctic ice floe. Last April, the floe was sturdy enough to build an air strip on. In September, 21 researchers and two dogs arrived, at which point their ice abode measured 1.2 by 2.5 miles. The researchers meant to leave in late August, […]

Catch the premiere of Emeril Green

As previously reported (and punned) TV chef Emeril Lagasse is kicking it up a notch with a new cooking show on Planet Green that addresses viewers’ kitchen-related dilemmas. Catch the premiere of Emeril Green — which may or may not actually be very green (this brief convo with participants suggests a hit-and-miss) — tonight at […]

Climate action requires leadership beyond political ‘reasonableness’

This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.

Let's face it: The Bush Administration has made a mess of things, as noted in "Hog heaven, part 1." It is now clear, if it hasn't been all along, that by the time George Bush leaves office, the White House will have wasted eight years of leadership on the Mother of All Issues.

If those eight years are a profound disappointment looking backward, then they are a profound tragedy looking forward. The head of the IPCC is spreading the message that the world community has seven short years to act decisively to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. Dr. John Holdren is among the prestigious U.S. scientists who now say more openly that the effects of climate change already are upon us. Dr. Jim Hansen now estimates that atmospheric concentrations of carbon must level off at 350 ppm, nearly 30 percent lower than everyone thought was needed to keep climate change at "safe" levels. Anyone who's paying attention sees that the impacts of global warming are occurring much faster than predicted.

If this year's weather extremes are a sample of climate change, how much worse will they be 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years from now, as today's rising and accumulating emissions take their toll?

New business coalition wants cheaper energy, stat

A group of businesses has kicked off a new campaign with the goal of making energy cheaper by whatever means possible. The new Coalition for Affordable American Energy — not to be confused with, ahem, the existing Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy or Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Energy — is backed by various business […]

CBS interviews oil man Pickens on his new greenish plan

I was gone last week when T. Boone Pickens’ big energy plan came out and everyone was buzzing about it. CBS has a new interview with him, done by Katie Couric, who actually asks some reasonably tough questions: Of course what she doesn’t do is get much into the meat of the plan itself, or […]

As summer heats up, a tasting of six “natural” white wines

When it comes to white wine, the nose knows. Photo: Tyler Bell When the summer sun rages, there are few antidotes more pleasing than a light dinner and a glass of chilled white wine. Of course, as summers get hotter, it gets more difficult to enjoy that indulgence without thinking about climate change and other […]

Cost-benefit analysis can help environmentalists battle offshore drilling

In a time of fiscal crisis, environmentalists will have to make a strong case against the economic wisdom of offshore oil drilling to ensure that Congress does not pay dearly for its continued opposition.

Come hang out with us in Austin

Any readers planning to travel to Netroots Nation should be sure to check out Grist’s Austin offerings. We’re partnering with ReGeneration.org to produce video from the event, and we’ll have a booth in the exhibitors’ hall where you can come register to win a Dell Inspiron laptop. Our videos will be posted both here and […]

Gulf dead zone likely to be more gigantic than ever

The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico may be vaster than ever this year, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists predicted Tuesday. Thanks in large part to recent Midwest flooding, the oxygen-starved zone — caused when fertilizer runoff from upstream ag spurs growth of algae that suck oxygen as they decompose — could measure […]