Articles

Grist asks McCain about contradictory messages on nuclear subsidies

John McCain hosted a call-in with bloggers today following his address in Columbus, Ohio, in which he outlined his priorities for a first term in office. Grist got in a couple of questions: You mentioned climate and energy in your speech today, that they would be among your top priorities, and that has also been […]

Kate Sheppard Politics

How three Rust Belt cities are changing

For more on Rust Belt cities, see our full feature on sustainability initiatives underway in Cleveland. It may not be intuitive to link an area historically associated with steel mills, coal mining, and automobile assembly lines to sustainable development. But green growth is catching on in the Rust Belt, long an economically unendowed area of […]

Grist staff Cities

Prius sales top 1 million

Worldwide sales of Toyota’s Prius hybrid have passed the 1 million mark, the auto company announced Thursday. The world’s first mass-produced hybrid was introduced in Japan in 1997 and in other markets in 2000. While it was at the time a risky business venture, it didn’t take long for the word Prius — Latin for […]

Grist staff Culture

One big corpration dominates the soon-to-be-prized potash market

Industrial agriculture currently stands as humanity’s big plan for "feeding the world" as global population moves toward 10 billion and the earth warms. Increasingly, as oil supplies tighten and prices rise, we’re looking to industrial ag to fill our gas tanks, too. Unhappily, this relatively new form of farming relies utterly on three elements — […]

Tom Philpott Food

The eternal cycle of liquid coal reincarnation

Ali Velshi on CNN, Wednesday morning: "What if you could take a lump of coal and turn that in to your gasoline?"

What if, indeed? A brief (very brief) stroll through the archives...

John McGrath Climate & Energy

Can Cleveland bring itself back from the brink?

Still known for smokestacks and football, Cleveland is turning its ship around.Photo: Craig Hatfield“Most people know Cleveland by the Browns or The Flats,” says Marc Lefkowitz. From the roof of his office building, which is dotted with native wildflowers and grasses, he gestures to the downtown skyline — marked by the iconic Mittal Steel smokestacks […]

Kristine Hansen Cities

The problems and principles of energy descent

"How did you get there, Roo?" asked Piglet.

"On Tigger's back! And Tiggers can't climb downwards, because their tails get in the way, only upwards, and Tigger forgot about that when we started, and he's only just remembered. So we've got to stay here for ever and ever -- unless we go higher. What did you say, Tigger? Oh, Tigger says if we go higher we shan't be able to see Piglet's house so well, so we're going to stop here."

-- A.A. Milne, "The House At Pooh Corner"

My kids were out climbing trees yesterday, supervised by Eric and our visiting friend and my honorary brother, "Uncle" Jesse. Isaiah really wanted to climb up to a particular spot, but couldn't get there on little four-year-old legs. Jesse helped him up part of the way, and then told him he had to do it himself or be content with where he could get to. Jesse observed, "I wanted to give him a boost, but only up to a place he could get back down from himself."

I was struck by what a useful metaphor and perhaps even principle was embodied in that casual statement. I was also reminded, perhaps because I've now read Winnie the Pooh to my children approximately 1,000 times, of the classic representation of what happens when you climb up and can't climb down. If you can forgive the cuteness, it does seem apt.

Let us imagine ourselves climbing up a rather steep and precarious tree, boosted up by fossil energies into a place we simply could never get to without them. The problems we are facing right now all originate in our fundamental inability to voluntarily set limits -- that is, at no point did most of us even recognize the basic necessity of stopping at a point at which we could get down on our own, without our petrocarbon helpers. So right now we look like Tiggers high in the trees -- we can climb up, but we can't climb down. Is the problem our fear or that our tails (our structural addictions to energy) get in the way? It can be hard to tell. But what is not terribly hard to tell is that one way or another, we have to come down -- and probably quite rapidly. The goal is to avoid a painful "thud" upon descent.

Sharon Astyk Climate & Energy

Got weeds? Reach for the food processor, not the lawnmower

Around this time of year, all the foodies in my neck of the woods are, well, in the woods. Spring and fall are the best wild food foraging times around here, and as if ol’ Mother Nature knew our food prices were going through the roof and transportation costs skyrocketing, she’s brought us a cornucopia […]

Kurt Michael Friese Culture

Recycling sewer water into drinking water growing more popular

Cities and counties across the United States have increasingly been turning to recycled sewer water as one way to meet growing drinking-water demand. Recycling sewer water, or turning toilet water into drinking water via purification, has often repulsed opponents due to the high costs of treatment and the drinking-former-toilet-water gag factor. However, despite sometimes vocal […]