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The Big Yapple

World’s mayors gather for climate-change summit in New York City Gone are the days when mayors chomped cigars and handed out keys to the city. Today’s civic leaders face a somewhat more monumental task: saving the planet. This week, mayors from more than 30 of the world’s biggest cities — from Bangkok to Berlin, Sydney […]

Trade in the Shade

Bush allows Democrats to attach eco-protections to trade agreements If the Decider isn’t careful, he’s going to become the Compromiser. Last week, President Bush and congressional Democrats worked out a deal that will attach environmental and labor protections to trade accords in the works with Colombia, Panama, Peru, and South Korea. The compromise will require […]

Trouble With a Capital B

Chemicals play a big role in breast-cancer cases, says report You know how Tammy Wynette said sometimes it’s hard to be a woman? Well, it just got harder: a new report finds a potential link between breast cancer and 216 chemicals, including 35 common air pollutants and 73 food or consumer-product ingredients. Racking up evidence […]

Remember When Driving Was Fun?

States sue over fuel standards, Bush announces emissions baby steps California Attorney General Jerry Brown held forth on the steps of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, leading a group of 11 states suing the feds over “dangerously weak” fuel-efficiency standards. “The Bush administration has its head in the sand, and we hope […]

Tancredo’s fictions

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo was asked, "what’s the latest work of fiction you’ve read?" His answer: An Inconvenient Truth. Guess that goes on his fiction shelf right next to Darwin’s Origin of Species. More at Tancredo Watch.

Contest in need of Grist readers and their funny

In a world without glaciers, what would you call Glacier National Park? Tongues firmly in cheeks, National Environmental Trust is sponsoring a contest to come up with a new name for the park. The winner gets a $250 gift certificate to REI, but really, it’s about calling attention to the fact that continued inaction on […]

Isn’t aiding and abetting tax evasion a crime?

Does anyone remember what a petard is? I think most folks only know them from the line in Shakespeare -- they picture some kind of quaint device, a Flintstones-like crane ... so you could be "hoisted on your own petard" in a clever, comical way.

Actually, a petard is a kind of primitive land mine.

The airlines have built an enormous petard beneath themselves; alas, they will not be the only ones hoisted when it explodes. 14 trillion miles of "free" flying outstanding ... man, that's a bunch of flying. OK, if only 1 percent are actually turned into flights, then it's only 140 billion miles of "free" jet travel.

Hey, that’s me!

Republicans for Environmental Protection have sponsored a TV ad on climate change to run in Austin this week. The goal is to drum up support for the several bills on climate change currently before the Texas Legislature.

Here it is:

There's also an article about the ad in the Austin-American Statesman here.

The wheels on the bike go round and round …

Happy Bike-to-Work Week! (She said hypocritically, eyeing her bus pass.) If you can’t handle the whole week, this Friday, May 18, is Bike-to-Work Day. (She said hypocritically, eyeing her invisible bike.) And FYI, May is Bike-to-Work Month. (She said tardily, eyeing her calendar.) Here are 50 things you can do to celebrate [PDF]. Or just […]

From the guy who wrote the book on the GM EV1, literally

Michael Shnayerson, who literally wrote the book on the ill-fated GM EV1, has an excellent piece in last month's Vanity Fair about the Tesla Roadster.

Quoting is redundant -- the whole article is fun and packed with attention to personal detail. Eventually, someone is going to have to write a biography of Alan Cocconi, who seems to be at the center of all the electric car efforts of the last quarter-century or so.