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Compressed air, not hot air

In contrast to the hot air coming out of Washington and Detroit, India is opting for compressed air. Deets here.

More intransigence on climate change

Hello! I just wanted to drop by Gristmill to give all of you an update on the energy bill. To no one's surprise, the Republicans are throwing sand in the gears and trying to block any meaningful progress.

The energy bill, as it stands, is not nearly strong enough, so there are a number of amendments that must be adopted to give us a bill that actually gets us started on that path of dealing with our energy crisis and our climate crisis.

I’m baaaack …

I’m writing this post while sitting at the Grist booth at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. If you’re here, come say hi — and explain why you’re reading Gristmill instead of listening to some of the amazing music out here. It seems like it was just a year ago that I was […]

Berries, brewpubs, and a blitz torte recipe

I am traveling on the West Coast, and have been diligently eating my way southward. I’ve been to Victoria, B.C., for a conference on agriculture and sustainability; to Sooke Harbour, B.C., where I visited Sooke Harbor House and took a tour of their organic garden and on-site water reclamation plant; and to Vancouver, B.C., where […]

Washington watersheds deserve better data

Water-typing is the name for a process of identifying and cateorizing streams, lakes, and wetlands in terms of their importance for biodiversity and human use. It's a pretty basic inventory developed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources in the 1970s, and it works, but only when it's done right.

The accompanying image shows what happens when it's done wrong. In January, this important habitat for fish was logged without any protection simply because the map was in error: it failed to show that this stream supported fish. Normally, this sort of waterway would have at least received a 58 foot buffer. An important regional group, the Wild Fish Conservancy (the author of the photo), has demonstrated that the original maps underestimate the actual miles of fish-bearing streams statewide by up to 50 percent!

Oceana board member featured as quiz show category

Answer: He once played the role of a former Red Sox pitcher-turned bartender, now he plays the part of ocean crusader as a member of Oceana's Board of Directors.

Who is Ted Danson?

The actor, who's advocated for ocean conservation for nearly 20 years, has appeared in everything from Saving Private Ryan to HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Most recently he appeared as one of the categories on the television quiz show Jeopardy!

Acting and advocacy -- that's what we call a true daily double.

Buffalo and Behold

Herds of migrating wildlife survive and thrive in southern Sudan Wildlife populations are thriving in, of all places, war-wracked southern Sudan. The first aerial wildlife survey of the country taken in 25 years found herds of more than a million gazelle and antelope, migrating in formations up to 30 miles across and 50 miles long. […]

Intel It Like It Is

Tech companies go for the green This week, a consortium led by big tech kahunas Google and Intel kicked off an effort to reduce the power use of the approximately 250 million personal computers and servers manufactured each year. Participants that signed on to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative — including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sun […]

OK, We’re Moving to Iceland

World Health Organization ranks countries’ environmental health To those who think environmentalism is all about prioritizing starfish over humans, read on: Cleaning up the globe’s air and water could save 13 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. Yesterday, WHO released a country-by-country analysis of health issues in 192 nations, factoring in […]

Don’t Count Your Hatchery Salmon Before They Hatch, or Even After

Judge rules hatchery fish don’t count when determining ESA status A federal judge in Washington state has overturned a contentious Bush administration policy that had tallied hatchery-raised fish as well as wild populations when determining the species’ status under the Endangered Species Act. Under that policy, that a collection of green groups sued to overturn, […]