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Yogurt-maker Dannon agrees to pay fine, treat wastewater in EPA settlement

International yogurt giant Dannon has agreed to pay a fine of $71,350 and install a multimillion-dollar automated wastewater control system as part of a settlement with the U.S. EPA. There have been some 10 illegal discharges over the past few years at the company’s 3-million-cup-a-day yogurt plant in Ohio — and it’s not just spilled […]

A first-hand view from Chicago’s overheated marathon

Chicago's annual marathon was shut down early on Sunday due to oppressive heat and humidity, which led to dozens of hospitalizations. Grister Sarah Hardin was on the scene and offers this first-hand report:

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It's become a tradition for my geographically widespread family to converge on Chicago in October for the city's annual marathon. We've been volunteering at the marathon ever since my cousin married the operations manager for the event. This was the first year I was able to join in -- and what a year, too. While 2006 saw 37-degree temperatures and cold rain all morning, this year's runners experienced some of the hottest weather Chicago's seen in October since the 1970s.

I witnessed up close and personal just how much planning goes into coordinating such a large-scale event (the race draws around 45,000 runners and 1.5 million spectators annually), and then I saw hundreds of people suffering from the effects of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and hyponatremia. Kudos to the marathon coordinators for making a difficult (and perhaps unpopular) decision to shut the course down and encourage people to reroute or walk the rest of it. It can't be an easy task to convince stubborn marathoners to stop running.

Sarkozy pushes proposals on energy and the environment

We have already seen that British Conservatives "get" global warming -- both the danger of inaction and the economic opportunity of a "green revolution."

Now the right wing cheese-eating surrender monkeys are also putting their American political counterparts to shame. As Nature reports about the new conservative French president:

Sarkozy made the greening of France a major plank of his election campaign this year. He has since created a superministry for ecology, biodiversity and sustainable development, with responsibility for the powerful sectors of transport, energy and construction -- a first in France, where ecology was previously off the political radar.

Yet it seems inconceivable a U.S. conservative politician could take such action, or agree to the following remarkable proposals now under active consideration in France:

Nuclear still on the verge of its comeback

If the nuclear industry “primes” for its long-rumored comeback much longer, the country’s going to get a collective case of blue balls. Meanwhile, this short excerpt pretty much contains the entire history of the nuclear debate in a nutshell: [Nuke company] NRG Energy chief executive David W. Crane proclaimed “a new day for energy in […]

Congress finally pays attention to energy storage tech

I missed this when it happened, but (via Hill Heat) it’s nice to see that the House science committee recently held a hearing on energy storage technology. It’s a woefully underappreciated piece of the energy puzzle and overdue for some concerted attention. In the context of the hearing, the Subcommittee also discussed draft legislation entitled […]

Group will do organic lawn care outside Capitol

Nonprofit SafeLawns.org has received permission to use organic gardening techniques on a portion of the National Mall for a two-year trial period. Can environmentally friendly soil treatments be embraced at the site of battling over a Live Earth concert? You could cut the tension with a spade.

Large wild animals frolic, elicit ooh’s, aah’s

OK, this is just stoopid cute. (via Pat Joseph)

A journey into the heart of industrial agriculture

  Americans live in a post-agricultural age. Today, fewer than two of every 100 U.S. citizens owe their living primarily to the land. A century ago, two of every five did. Yet even though very few of us contribute to food production, we all still eat — and food comes from somewhere. But where? In […]

A Grist special series on food and farming

You know where babies come from, sure — but do you know where Tater Tots come from? In this two-week series, we’ll take you on a behind-the-scenes tour of your very own diet. Everybody eats, every day, but we tend to gloss over the details. Things like the work that really goes into putting food […]

Green investment funds are taking off

Eco-friendly investment funds are sssssssssssmokin’!