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Salon dishes out Grist-like advice

Roz pointed me to this advice column on dishwashing from Salon. In typical hand-wringing, teeth-gnashing style, an eco-aware woman writes a (long, long) letter asking whether it’s OK to buy non-green detergent that gets her dishes cleaner. Cavalier columnist Cary Tennis writes a (long, long) response saying: use whatever the hell you want. Then go […]

Umbra on love and kindness

Dear Umbra, Sorry to hear you are under the weather. Hope you are fully jauntified soon! Brian Plymouth, Minn. Dearest Brian, Thank you so much for this note, and thank you to the other people who wrote in wishing me better health after a little comment I made about my head feeling like it was […]

Wow

This is amazing.

He will green you up

Wow. Just wow.

The B.C. government is trying to out-green California with a sweeping strategy unveiled Tuesday to fight global warming by cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions from everything from cars and industry to the daily energy consumption of ordinary people.

As far as I can tell, Campbell's government looked at each of the recent advances in Gov. Ahnold's climate policy in California -- the emission goals, the broad authority to develop a cap and trade system, the vehicle emission standards, policies on electric power -- and tried to take each one a step further.

AEI story

I hope everyone’s seen the piece Andrew and I have up about the AEI brouhaha. I’m never really sure whether Gristmill readers are aware of stuff that gets posted elsewhere on the site. Anyway, it’s there. I’m quite fond of it, though I expect some folks will not be. Please comment over there and not […]

Watch in wonder …

… as President Bush chides a child for throwing up a peace sign during a photo-op. Oh, the symbolism. Also, this is just classic: As Bush chatted with some children, other youngsters were overheard by a pool reporter. “He’s my favorite president,” one said. “My favorite president is President Obama,” another replied. “Who’s that?” “He’s […]

That’s not gonna stop us from talking about it

It’s kind of funny — no matter how many times Gore and his people issue the exact same bland non-denial denial, journalists keep try to gin up some new hook around which to write about his possible entry into the presidential race. The latest is New York Observer‘s Steve Kornacki, who breathlessly reports "Why Al […]

Grab an eco-sex kit for your Valentine

Sure, today is Singles Awareness Day Valentine’s Day, but what about Valentine’s Night? Awww, yeah. This ain’t your grandmother’s tree-huggin’. Or is it … Anyway, I’m tickled (hee, hee!) to point you to this Eco-Sexy Kit from Babeland. Inside is a vibrator made from latex-free and phthalate-free material, a soy massage candle, natural lube, and […]

Rhetorical cheapshots from a usual suspect

Global warming is complicated, and often counter-intuitive, which is one reason most scientists prefer the phrase "climate change" to describe it. But whether you call it climate change or global warming, its complexity offers easy opportunities for rhetorical cheap shots to right-wing zealots such as Drudge, who would like the whole issue to go away. Yesterday his popular tabloid ran an item about how a House hearing on the "warming of the planet" had to be canceled due to freezing rain.

One problem with the irony: this kind of "precipitation event" is exactly the scenario scientists predict for a warming planet.

In a statement prepared before his testimony about climate change to the same House Committee on Science and Technology last week, leading climatologist Dr. Kevin Trenberth, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research warned:

Model Summer Rayne Oakes quizzes him on socially responsible investing

In this guest post, model and sustainable business consultant Summer Rayne Oakes recounts her recent interview with socially responsible investing expert Thomas Van Dyck. (Read more about Oakes in a Grist profile.)

I first met Thomas Van Dyck in June 2005 during the height of San Francisco's World Environment Day celebrations. It was a brief two-minute introduction wedged between a chaotic green trade show and a trippy drum-circle gathering. All I managed to find out during that time was his job description: investment consultant. In my mind, I lumped him in with the typical French-cuffed, Ferragamo-tied, Rolex-wearing beings I see on my occasional sojourns to Wall Street. I couldn't have been more wrong.

As I learned after running into him a few more times, Thomas Van Dyck is one of the top socially responsible investment (SRI) consultants in the business. He happened into the field in the early '80s, while working as an environmental activist, and he's helped to shape and grow SRI ever since. Van Dyck and his team, who work in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District, consult on close to a billion dollars in assets, with clients ranging from foundations, unions, and pension funds to entrepreneurs and celebrities. Ninety-nine percent of his clients have at least one socio-environmental screen on their portfolios, and the vast majority has multiple screens. In addition to his investment work, Van Dyck founded As You Sow in 1992, a nonprofit organization that uses shareholder advocacy to push for more enlightened corporate practices.