Latest Articles

Vilsack is out

Vilsack, we hardly knew ye. A long shot, yes. But those energy policies … so dreamy.

British-built server up for big award

We here at Grist love computers, even if sometimes they don't love us back. Every once in a while, a piece of technology comes out that you can't help but get excited about (and I'm not talking about the iPhone).

It’s all the buzz in Europe

Global warming and Chinese pottery to blame!

A dairy giant does the right thing

Erstwhile Gristmiller Sam Fromartz, true to form as an ex-reporter, has breaking news on his personal blog. Sam reports that Dean Foods, the dominant U.S. dairy supplier (you can find a list of its many brands here) has decided not to accept milk from cloned cows, despite recent USDA approval of the stuff. This is […]

McCain:

I’m not Bush! Update [2007-2-22 17:8:54 by David Roberts]: Hilarious. Check out ThinkProgress to see how the right-wing blogs have responded to McCain’s criticism of Bush on climate change. He’s joined the majority of people in the world loony left!

Debate shifting post-IPCC report

With the release of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, the debate over climate change has noticeably shifted from arguments about the reality of human-induced climate change to a debate over how to address the problem.

For example, here on Gristmill an interesting debate has broken out over whether a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system is best to price carbon emissions (e.g., here or here or here). This is exactly the kind of thing we need to be debating, and I'm glad to see it.

Must one do business with ADM?

Responding to my latest critique of Archer Daniels Midland and its business practices, a reader writes in to ask, “If I want to stop supporting ADM when grocery shopping, is there a list somewhere of what products to avoid buying?” That’s a great question. The short answer is, the best way to stiff ADM is […]

How Archer Daniels Midland cashes in on Mexico’s tortilla woes

Much has been made in the U.S. press about Mexico’s “tortilla crisis” — the recent spike in the price of its definitive corn-based flatbread. Media reports tend to focus blame on U.S. ethanol production, which has surged over the past year, causing the global price of corn to double. The situation stoked the food vs. […]

Can a carbon tax neutralize new carbon emitters?

At the Carbon Tax Center, we're forever on the lookout for new and outsized ways in which Americans are using energy. Too often, today's novelty item is just a clever marketing campaign away from tomorrow's sizable carbon emitter. Witness high-definition televisions, or Jet Skis.

If history is a guide, efficiency standards to govern new devices' fuel consumption won't be promulgated until after they have proliferated -- if ever. Carbon taxes, in contrast, could help rein in new products' energy requirements from the get-go, i.e., in the design stage. Where a product has little redeeming social value, the price signals from a carbon tax might even keep it from gaining a toehold in the culture.

These thoughts came to mind when we read an article in The New York Times (sub. rq.) last week about suburbia's latest must-have energy-guzzlers: home snowmaking machines.

Seriously

Commentary seems unnecessary: (hat tip: mean green dean machine)