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Or They Could Stop Waging War

Report says U.S. military needs to wean itself from oil A report commissioned by the Pentagon says the U.S. military needs to break its oil addiction. The country used an average of 16 gallons of fuel per soldier per day in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2006, compared to four per soldier per day in the […]

Face Offset

A campus organizer takes a critical look at going carbon neutral These days, college is about more than keg stands and beer pong: students all over the country are taking stands on global warming, pushing their schools to move toward climate neutrality. Nathan Wyeth, an undergrad at Brown University, is one of those students. But […]

Hey, That’s Half the Battle

Bush chats with Merkel and Barroso, agrees climate change is a problem U.S. President George W. Bush met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and E.U. President Jose Manuel Barroso at the White House yesterday, chatting about international trade, air-travel policy, missile shields, and The Most Important Issue of Our Time. Though no climate action steps […]

Some students don’t want to go carbon neutral

As an undergrad at Brown University and a veteran organizer with the Sierra Student Coalition, Nathan Wyeth has his ear to the ground on campus sustainability issues. In this occasional column for Grist, Wyeth will report on what's afoot at the campus grassroots level and how he and his fellow students are making their voices heard.

As of today, 202 colleges and universities have pledged to move toward climate neutrality, or net-zero global warming emissions, with the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. I've been part of a student group pushing Brown University to do the same.

But debate over the legitimacy of the "carbon offsets" that make climate neutrality possible is growing as fast as the number of companies, institutions, even countries that have committed to buying them. Are carbon offsets legit? And what does climate neutrality really mean?

For the past few months, I've been considering a phrase tossed out by my friend and fellow student organizer Billy Parish: climate positive. Consider it a step beyond climate neutral (which never had a very inspiring ring to it anyway) -- when institutions or individuals not only take responsibility for their own impact on the climate and our future but go beyond this to have a positive climate impact on the community around them.

New report says federal cleanup program wasting away

Image reprinted with permission from the Center for Public Integrity. A drop-off in both government action and funding has all but stopped the push to clean up America’s most toxic sites, posing health and environmental threats all over the country, according to a comprehensive series of reports released last week by the Center for Public […]

An interview with Julia Russell of the Eco-Home Network

Gristmill commenter Lo Fleming posted a good Q&A with Julia Russell of the Eco-Home Network recently over on her blog. Check it out.

From pop star John Mayer

John Mayer. Photo: sushla via flickr Congratulations to pop star dreamboat John Mayer for penning what can only be termed a reductio ad absurdum of the light-green, change-your-lightbulbs, ten-things-you-can-do, don’t-sweat-it-too-much, caring-a-little-is-OK but caring-too-much-is-square environmentalism. I was going to pick excerpts, but really you gotta read the whole post to get the full impact. Ladies and […]

New book examines Army Corps ruling

Attention brains: I am contractually obligated, by virtue of having been born, to mention that my father has helped put out a book of essays that look at the Supreme Court’s ruling last year on the Army Corps of Engineers and the Clean Water Act, and at the future of federal wetlands protection. The five […]

IPCC releases third report, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: One Fight In Bangkok Mine Your Business That’s One Way to Push Public Transportation Let’s Balk About Sex Ducked Ape Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Places in the Heart No More Teachers’ Dirty Looks The Spoken Word

How to build a real climate movement

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Campaigns and programs crafted to advance the Bright Lines strategy must also fit real world constraints and political realities on the ground, and take account of external roadblocks to effective action. The following objectives address these issues.

1. Tangible risk. Climate change is like world hunger: it's an issue of concern when media attention is high, just as coverage of periodic famines raises concern about world hunger. Most Americans do not see climate change as an immediate or personal risk, yet, like world hunger, they view it as a problem so immense that it is impractical to think that it will ever be solved.

NGO relief efforts and international governmental aid are widely supported, but are seen as altruistic, charitable actions. Climate policies and programs now advanced in the U.S. are so small-scale they can only be understood in similar terms, as altruistic and charitable acts like huger relief. Measures like Governor Corzine's initiative in New Jersey, for example, take aim at an intangible, global risk with essentially symbolic action.

The problem must be dealt with by establishing the scale of global response and role of the U.S. in advancing a solution, but should also be tackled by defining tangible, local risks. By advancing climate change assessment and remediation, several objectives are achieved: