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Do your part

It's game time for renewable energy in the House. First up is the federal renewable portfolio standard. HR 969, known as the Udall-Platts Amendment, would require utilities nationwide to increase the amount of renewables in their portfolio to 20 percent by 2020. It will be voted on in the House on Friday. Take action here.

Are we a nation permanently at war?

In his interview with Grist, Dennis Kucinich urged us all to recognize the connection between global warming and global warring. In that spirit, I thought I’d pass along an astute observation from Glenn Greenwald, who on matters of media and war/terrorism is without peer. About this quote from Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.), a conservative member […]

New study links biodiversity loss to economic inequality

It's increasingly well documented that income inequality matters for a variety of reasons: among them, it has negative effects on public health and social capital. So it was interesting to read a recent study from researchers at McGill University in Quebec. They found that income inequality is also linked to biodiversity loss.

Pelosi’s plan to save the polar bears — and poor kids, too …

There has been a lot of discussion about the energy package that is set to pass the U.S. House this week. But the media so far has missed one of the most interesting and innovative proposals that will be voted on: the Green Jobs Act of 2007. This ground-breaking legislation will make $120 million a year available across the country to begin training workers (and would-be workers) for jobs in the clean-energy sector. When the bill becomes law, 35,000 people a year will benefit from cutting-edge, vocational education in fields that could literally save the Earth.

Heath Row

London airport owner seeks injunction against weeklong climate protest We’ve got juicy legal goings-on from London, and while it’s probably not true that all involved are wearing long, white wigs, we like to picture it that way. Here’s the deal: in mid-August, an estimated 5,000 protesters will descend on London’s Heathrow Airport for a weeklong […]

Are Those Bisphenol Genes You’re Wearing?

New study confirms that bisphenol A can mess with animal genetics Know what time it is? It’s time to check in on bisphenol A, the chemical in many plastics that gets creepier by the day. Despite continuing claims by the chemical industry that products containing the compound — which can include baby bottles, water bottles, […]

Brangelina argue over politics

Ever wonder what Brangelina fight about? Turns out it’s Barack Obama. From a super credible news source: An insider close to the Pitt family said: “They got into a huge fight about politics (Brad supports Barack Obama, while Angie’s a John Edwards fan.) Brad ended up calling her immature. He says the next thing he […]

Prints: Not Charming

Laser printers can emit high levels of unhealthy small particles, study says Remember how computers were going to usher in the Paperless Office? We so should have done that. An Australian study has found that many laser printers emit high levels of small particles that can be harmful to human health, with the highest-emitting machines […]

Climate marches kick off in New Hampshire and Iowa

A scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, Bill McKibben is the author of The End of Nature, the first book for a general audience on climate change, and, most recently, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. He serves on Grist’s board of directors. Thursday, 2 Aug 2007 LITCHFIELD, N.H. The climate movement is […]

It’s a thing

Tom Konrad ponders the ethanol situation and wonders: what if, instead of feeding most of our corn to cows, and then growing a bunch of grass to make cellulosic ethanol, we use all the cow corn for ethanol and feed the grass to the cows? Gimmicky hook, but quite a fact-filled, educational article.