Latest Articles

Oceanus is for more than just middle-schoolers

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has an online magazine, Oceanus. Over the past few years, they've published many stories (at the middle school level and up) on numerous aspects of the ocean/climate system. There's some great material there (e.g., this article on solar effects on climate or this one on the oceanic sink for carbon dioxide). Check it out here.

Prius consumes more energy in lifetime than Cherokee

I thought this article hit a little too close for comfort. If you really want to call yourself an environmentalist, do what my sister-in-law did: Buy a small Toyota hatchback and put 5,000 miles a year on it for two decades.

Then there was this interesting article in the Economist discussing the future of diesel cars in America:

The dirty little secret about hybrids is that their batteries and extensive use of aluminium parts make them costly to build in energy terms as well as financial terms. One life-cycle assessment claims that, from factory floor to scrap heap, a Prius consumes more energy even than a Hummer III. Diesels are unlikely to consume anything like as much over their lifetime. That could change, of course, if some bright spark decides to replace a hybrid's petrol engine with a diesel--to launch a family car capable of 100mpg. Now there's a thought.

Actually not, Economist staff writer person. That assessment you refer to says that the diesel Jetta wagon will also use as much energy in its lifetime as the H3. And guess what? In all likelihood that diesel hybrid you cite will too, for the same reasons as the Prius and Jetta. But you would have known that had you bothered to actually read that lifecycle assessment. I don't blame you, actually. The damn thing is over 400 pages long. I know because I did read it. In fact, I built a spreadsheet with the data I gleaned from it to answer some burning questions I had.

Umbra on convincing colleagues to turn the lights off

Dear Umbra, I’m always hollering at my friends and colleagues to turn off the lights when they leave the room. Considering my business is green-related, it blows me away that my staff can’t seem to get a handle on flicking the switch. But it’s probably mostly a matter of them not really knowing why it’s […]

If you are fooling around on your spouse, offset your cheating with CheatNeutral!

New spoof site: Cheat Neutral

Q) What is "Cheat Offsetting"?

When you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere.

Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and not cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a clear conscience.

Q) Can I offset all my cheating?

First you should look at ways of reducing your cheating. Once you've done this you can use Cheatneutral to offset the remaining, unavoidable cheating.

Take our reader survey

We Gristers are just dying to know what you think of us. Don't keep us in suspense: Take our reader survey. We want you to tell it to us straight, vent your spleen, get it off your chest, and let us know how we can make Grist better than ever.

And, just in case you're not into taking surveys for the pure thrill of it, we'll sweeten the deal by entering you in a drawing to win a solar-powered backpack that can charge up your iPod and other electronic doodads.

What are you waiting for?

Another ‘Proper Education’ video

Below the fold, a response to the “Proper Education” remix video we mentioned in Grist List last month. Instead of one long storyline, this one features clips from a number of sources including a Blair speech, An Inconvenient Truth, and the "Tick" global warming video from the Ad Council. It’s a bit long, but worth […]

Inside the mind of the skeptics

Matt Yglesias flags a … novel argument about energy from Michael Novak and says this: It’s interesting how money impacts political ideas. One doubts that any of these various rightwingers were actually humming along and then got bribed by energy companies to come up with the outlandish conservative arguments you hear on this score. Rather, […]

More Cloud Cult obsession

… not to be all obsessive, but why isn’t everyone on the planet listening to this new Cloud Cult album? I’m afraid if I keep playing it around the clock my wife is going to strangle me. Here’s another good song off it, called “Alien Christ”: Here are the lyrics: You’re invited to the party […]

Dearly Befuddled

With green weddings a growing trend, Church of England offers eco-tips Dear Mr. Potsworth, I’m writing this email to formally ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage. As you consider my request, there’s something you should know: We’re planning a green wedding. Rita and I feel, like many other couples today, that our Big Day […]

Sixty-Two and You

U.S. EPA places limits on carcinogenic benzene in gasoline Late last week, the U.S. EPA announced a new rule that will affect most Americans’ gas tanks. The Mobile Source Air Toxics rule — or as we like to call it, the Your Car is Full of Crap rule — limits benzene, a carcinogen that makes […]