Latest Articles

The Inferior Department

I’ll admit I don’t know as much about the Interior Department as I should. In my experience, however, it is the nation’s No. 1 source of environmental humor. First, it’s run by a guy named Dirk Kempthorne. Dirk! That pleased our headline writers to no end, though not as much as Johnson getting EPA. Then […]

Not any more

Nope. This is actually pretty nifty, if you’re a solar geek. This company, G24i, has been working for a long while to come up with solar cells covered in a dye that, when struck by light, discharges an electron, which is immediately captured by a neighboring crystal of titanium oxide. It’s unlikely it will scale […]

15 Green Colleges and Universities

See which colleges got top marks from Grist, then grade our effort in the comments section at the bottom of this page. Photo: Mauro Carballo College of the Atlantic This small school in Bar Harbor, Maine, has just one major: human ecology — or “the study of our relationship with our environment.” So it only […]

What do you say?

Watch Ask A Ninja's climate video. Then get inspired, make your own, and win sweet prizes.

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From One Day to One Night

Bauer beware He’s survived 20 months of torture in a Chinese prison, thwarted presidential assassination attempts, disarmed nuclear bombs, and saved Kiefer Sutherland’s career. Did you doubt he’d eventually take on global warming? Clearly, you don’t know Jack. Bottled rage We heard it through the grapevine that Brangelina may be purchasing an eco-friendly winery in […]

They’re not going to save us

Oh well, it was a nice thought: A decade-long experiment led by Duke University scientists indicates that trees provide little help in offsetting increased levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Note to the hordes of indignant commenters lunging for the CAPS LOCK key: this does not mean trees are worthless. Trees do many wonderful […]

15 Green Buildings

Green building has grown up, from a tiny movement of hands-on idealists to an increasingly mainstream business sector that erects office towers and research centers. Sure, the structures on this list aren’t as low-impact as yurts or straw-bale homes, but they represent green building on a broader, more public scale — where energy efficiency and […]

Except that we still have to wait another 10 years

The German government on Wednesday cleared the way -- finally -- to phase out the mining of hard coal in Germany.

As explained by this Associated Press article in the International Herald Tribune, the heavily subsidized German hard coal industry still employs about 33,000 people in eight underground mines. The plan is to phase out hard-coal mining starting in 2009, and for miners to receive compensation if they are laid off prematurely.

Hard-coal mining "has no future" in Germany, declared Economy Minister Michael Glos. "A great, long era is coming to an end in a socially responsible way."

Bring in the Reserves

Bush administration expands marine reserves off Southern California Ending eight years of debate and study, the Bush administration yesterday announced the expansion of a network of marine reserves around Southern California’s Channel Islands. The move permanently bans recreational fishing in an area of some 150 square miles; nearly 80 percent of the area remains open […]

Vehicle of Change

These touring students give new meaning to school bus When is a school bus not a school bus? When it’s a Big Green Bus, touring the country with a load of college students and recent graduates eager to spread the word about biofuels, energy, and anything else they can get people to talk about. Sarah […]