Latest Articles

Granted, it’s early yet

Just met with Laura Carstens, planning services manager for Dubuque. The money quote: “For years, we turned our back on the river. Now we’re making it our front door.” Later today, Sarah and I will get out on the river for the first time. The tourist riverboat stopped running this weekend because the weather turned, […]

… or Kansas, for that matter

Here’s what the sign says on the back of the bathroom door in our hotel: Hotel Laws of Iowa Fixing, Limiting, and Determining the Liability of Keepers of Hotels, Inns, Eating-Houses, and Steamboat Owners to Inmates Thereof. Sorry, was that … steamboat owners? Holy crap.

Chertoff waives environmental laws to continue border-fence construction

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived several environmental laws on Monday in order to continue construction of nearly seven miles of the sprawling fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Work on the section that crosses the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Naco, Ariz., had been halted due to a ruling two weeks ago that […]

Atmospheric CO2 rises more than expected since 2000

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing more than expected due to less-efficient use of fossil fuels, and carbon sinks that are absorbing less carbon, according to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Overall, “atmospheric carbon dioxide growth has increased 35 percent faster than expected since 2000,” […]

A two-part CNN documentary begins tonight

(Images: CNN Worldwide — All Rights Reserved 2007 ©) Beginning tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT, CNN will air a two-part documentary that takes viewers to the front lines of environmental change. Hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper (above), chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Animal Planet host/wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin, Planet in Peril will […]

CLEAN calls for action on energy policy

Well, they dropped a bundle to get a quarter-page "Clean Power" ad in the Washington Post (page A21 today) so the least I can do is give them a shout out here.

CLEAN is a "clean power and coalfield state grassroots organization" circulating a comprehensive national "call to action" on energy policy that includes:

Exploring Dubuque’s riverwalk, tourist-style

While Katharine spent the day getting free lunch and talking to city planners, I spent my day exploring what, exactly, all those city planners have spent all their time planning. Namely, the America’s River project I mentioned earlier today. I toured the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium with Teri Goodmann, the director of national […]

A meeting of the minds in the Masterpiece on the Mississippi

There’s no free lunch — unless you happen to be a Grist reporter crashing a sustainability conference in Dubuque. I showed up, hungry, for a 12 p.m. presentation by City Manager Mike Van Milligen that was kicking off a three-day Sustainable Design Assessment Team visit. I was rewarded not only with more inspiring examples of […]

How chainsaw toting underwear models helped save America’s most endangered large mammal

The world's 1,700 mountain caribou can chomp their lichens in peace -- Forest Ethics and a coalition of Canadian environmental groups announced an agreement with the British Columbia government to protect more than 5 million acres of their home habitat in British Columbia's forests.

The victory came after a five-year campaign targeting corporations and the regional government that either logged mountain caribou habitat or used paper from the mountainous, old growth forests favored by the caribou, which are not only the southernmost population of caribou but also the only remaining caribou population in the world in mountainous terrain.

This isn't just good news for the mountain caribou and the forests, but also predators like mountain lions and wolves who eat the caribou -- the B.C. government had been focused on shooting those animals as a way to protect the caribou; now, they're going to seriously curtail these culls.

The campaign had won a major boost when Limited Brands, which publishes the Victoria's Secret catalog, announced it would no longer buy paper derived from mountain caribou forests. The victory came after environmental activists dressed as Victoria's Secret angels showed up outside stores with chainsaws in hand denouncing "Victoria's Dirty Secret" -- that the company was driving the destruction of pristine forests around the world.

Phasing out leaded gasoline may have reduced crime rates, says research

Thank the Clean Air Act for significantly reducing violent crime rates in the U.S., says researcher Jessica Wolpaw Reyes. The legislation was behind the phaseout of leaded gasoline in the 1970s and ’80s, which significantly reduced blood levels of the heavy metal in Americans. The arc of lead-exposure rates seems to match the arc of […]