Latest Articles

Or, how to stick a lot of information in a very short post

Following up on this airline news, Planet Ark reports:

The European Union's executive arm approved plans on Wednesday to include aviation in its emissions trading system, giving international flights in and out of the EU a one-year reprieve before they have to join.

Intra-EU flights will join the scheme, aimed at cutting global air pollution, in 2011. Flights into and out of the bloc will be included the following year, giving non-EU carriers time to prepare and see how the scheme works.

More articles here and here and here. Airlines' "cautious welcome" here. Greens' skeptical reactions here and here and here.

A guest blogger weighs in on the impact of sports balls

The following post is from guest sports blogger Scott James, founder of Fair Trade Sports.

Here's a quick primer on sports balls, the materials of which they are made, and their environmental impact.

Sports balls consist of three main components:

• the outer shell (synthetic leather -- about 30 percent of the total ball);
• the inner air bladder (rubber -- about 70 percent of the total ball); and
• the dyes (less than 1 percent of the total ball).

Bitch’s green issue is definately worth killing trees for

The winter issue of Bitch magazine is all about green issues as they relate to feminism and pop culture. As always, Bitch is dead on in their content and critique, especially the piece "Green and Not Heard: Al Gore, Rachel Carson, and the feminizing of eco-activism." Recommended highly, though it's only available in print.

Wait, there's still print media? And print media that doesn't have the full text of their articles available online? Despite the horror of having to leave your house, travel to a bookstore (preferably a small, local, independent one), and interact with other human creatures, Bitch, particularly this issue, is worth it.

Codes are springing up in cities big and small

Just in the last month I've noticed signs of a major shift in green building practices around the country.

Green building codes and ordinances are springing up all over the place. We may be seeing the beginning of one of the best environmental stories of 2007.

Sign up for Grist’s telephone survey

Here it is, the chance you've been waiting for: Tell us what Grist means to you, and where you think we should go from here. Sign up to take part in a telephone survey.

It's like writing a letter to Santa and telling him what you really want this year -- except on the phone, and you can rest assured that we won't give you any coal, no matter how bad you've been.

Just in case you need another reason to oppose ag subsidies

They waste money, trash the environment, wreck trade relations, and oh, devastate small farmers.

Pitfalls of emissions trading

More and more, I'm thinking a carbon tax and putting new energy technologies freely into the public domain is the way to go, especially after reading stuff like this.

Newer and cheekier!

With sincere respect to my colleagues across the Atlantic (this is all a matter of opinion, after all), I'm dismayed by some of the choices on their list of most important environmental books. Hoary tomes like The Lorax, an analysis of the impact of pesticides on the environment that's nearly a half-century old (I shake in my boots to criticize La Carson thus) ... if the list were of books that had a big impact in their time, or books that will bolster the sentiments of the already-sympathetic, then it would be enough.

But the "small is beautiful," "earth as organism," "pursue simplicity" approach to eco-reform reflected in most of these choices has not proven a big winner in Western mass culture. Right or wrong, converting Western mass culture is the task at hand today, if we're going to solve the problems addressed by these authors over the decades.

What are the books that speak to more recent science, contemporary events, and our evolving understanding of the intersections of environment with economy, culture, and human rights?

Here are some titles I'd consider:

‘Climate is always changing’–That doesn’t mean it isn’t different today

(Part of the How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic guide)

Objection: Climate has always changed. Why are we worried now, and why does it have to be humans' fault?

Answer: Yes, climate has varied in the past, for many different reasons, some better understood than others. Present-day climate change is well understood, and different. Noting that something happened before without humans does not demonstrate that humans are not causing it today.

A little holiday guilt for ya

Just in time for your holiday flight back to whence you came, a little news about the environmental effects of your holiday airline travel that will make you feel almost as guilty as your relatives will. Much like your family tree (OK, maybe just mine), your trip will inevitably generate trash.