Latest Articles
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Toyota may put solar panels on new Prius to power air conditioning
A Japanese newspaper is reporting that Toyota plans to install solar panels on its next model of the popular Prius hybrid. If the company follows through, it would be the first major automaker to incorporate solar power into its vehicles. Even with the panels, though, the pimped-out Prius wouldn’t actually run on solar power (it’s […]
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Presidential campaign ads go on attack over energy issues
The first major ad buy this year from a major party aired over the weekend, a TV spot courtesy of the Republican National Committee attacking Democratic candidate Barack Obama for a lack of creativity on the energy scene. While John McCain is “pushing his own party to face climate change,” the ad says that Obama […]
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Venture capitalist John Doerr shares four lessons on climate change
I don’t know how it is that I’ve never seen this John Doerr talk from TED, but I’m glad I finally did:
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To convene is not green
The Democratic Party, nominee already selected, has apparently noticed that flying thousands and thousands of people to a meeting with no purpose has some significant environmental costs.
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Is a consumer choice necessarily the best choice?
Jim Manzi, climate change voice of non-denialist conservatives, writes: But consider this at a common-sense level: you are forcing people, through rationing, to use something like 80% less of a substance that they choose to use because they believe that it creates net economic utility (prior to externalities) as compared to any available alternative. There […]
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Don’t be afraid to claim the term ‘environmentalist’
A number of Grist contributors have grumpily said things along the lines of, "I'm not an environmentalist," or "I'm not sure I'm an environmentalist."
Environmentalism comes in all flavors. Wanting to protect natural environments because they benefit humans is a perfectly valid form of environmentalism -- in fact, I'd argue more valid than the "humans are evil, tapeworms are virtuous" variety. If you want to protect our world against the worst consequences of global warming, if you want clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and yes, some wilderness and wild left for the sake of your sanity, then you are an environmentalist.
Every now and then I will run into someone who says, "yes, I think women are fully human and should be treated as such. I believe in equal pay for equal work, anti-discrimination laws, anti-harassment laws. I think there are important ways in which women are not treated as fully human that have to be changed. But I'm not a feminist." If you believe those things, you are a feminist. You are just buying into an anti-feminist stereotype. And not calling yourself a feminist won't stop all mini-Limbaughs who dominate talk radio from calling you whatever the latest version of "feminazi" is. Similarly, if want to protect the environment, even for the most anthropocentric reasons in the world, claiming not to be environmentalist won't protect you against being called names by those who think the ideal breakfast is fried spotted owl cooked over an open flame fueled by old-growth timber. So own the term "environmentalist." Claim it proudly. Don't let hate-mongers define it, or purity trolls monopolize it.
[Updated title to take out the damn 60s reference the editor put in.] -
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Economist says biofuels have pushed up global food prices by 75 percent
The “Republican war on science” has evidently opened a new front: economics, a discipline often fetishized by the right. In a startling article published July 4, the Guardian reports that in a "secret" study, a World Bank senior economist concluded that the recent explosion in biofuels use has driven global food prices up by 75 […]
