Latest Articles

You won’t find a better review of the Yamaha CP300 anywhere!

If you happen to be perusing the newest issue of Jazz Times — available on newsstands! — flip on over to the Gearhead section and check out the ace review of the Yamaha CP300 Stage Piano. It’s written by a young piano prodigy who’s tearing up the D.C. jazz scene. You can hear some of […]

Janisse Ray says that greens need to ‘be the change’ in moving toward sustainability

The wonderful southern environmental writer Janisse Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and others) has a new piece in Orion magazine of interest to Gristmillers, called "Altar Call for True Believers," where she wonders why even the so-called choir seems to be failing at making great strides toward sustainability. It starts out with this startling vignette about greens and air travel:

BP promises to stop dumping waste into the Great Lakes

On July 15, the Chicago Tribune reported that BP wanted to significantly increase the discharge of ammonia and toxic wastes into the Great Lakes. The outcry was enormous -- even Republican congressmen from the area joined in the criticism, and several powerful congressional members, including Rahm Emanuel in the House and Barack Obama in the Senate, threatened hearings. The city of Chicago was considering legal action, and a large petition drive began.

Apparently the political efforts have paid off, because BP announced it will reverse its decision and not add more pollutants. The catch: it's not legally binding, because the conservative administration in Indiana has not revoked the pollution permits.

The Bush administration proposes to make illegal MTR mining legal

I suppose I should have something to say about the Bush administration’s latest effort to encourage mountaintop removal mining. But what? It’s not like there’s any particular analytical insight required. The Bushies are choosing profit for coal companies over some of America’s most beautiful landscapes and oldest cultures. It’s right there in the open. What’s […]

New article fails to shed light on state renewable portfolio standards

Jordan Schrader of USA Today manages to pen a long piece about the profusion of state renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) without discussing, except in the most glancing, cursory fashion, any of the important issues around them. For instance, he notes that some people say RPSs will raise electricity rates, while others say they will ultimately […]

How much should we aim to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions?

As faithful Daily Grist readers know, yesterday six western states (and two Canadian provinces) formally debuted the Western Climate Initiative, a cap-and-trade agreement aiming to lower GHG emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. Carbon neutral in his lifetime. Inevitably, announcements like this are met with heated debate over the target. Is it […]

Is Our Children Greening?

Students and colleges starting to go green It’s school time again, and you know what that means: pencils, books, teachers’ dirty looks, and ambitious eco-minded students. Thanks to the influence of today’s yoots — a generation accustomed to sorting their trash and hyper-aware of global warming — schools across the country are greening up education. […]

Refine! Be That Way!

EPA rejects stricter emissions standards for U.S. refineries Following a review of the refinery pollution rules it issued in 1995, the U.S. EPA has decided not to improve the 12-year-old rules because the analysis found that “the risks to human health and the environment are low enough that no further controls are warranted.” As the […]

Lower the Pollution and Back Away Slowly

BP says it will back off from releasing more Lake Michigan pollution In what’s being billed as a victory for environmentalists, oil company BP has said it will back off from dumping more pollution into Lake Michigan. The company had just weeks ago received permission from Indiana state authorities to increase the amount of sludge […]

No Peaking

Bush administration eases restrictions on mountaintop-removal mining The Bush administration has given a big thumbs-up to mountaintop-removal mining, the practice of blasting the peaks off of mountains and dumping the rubble into watersheds and valleys. A proposed rule issued today will exempt mining waste from an inconsistently interpreted 1983 rule that disallows mining activity within […]