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Bill Moyers, Bill McKibben, and others on evangelical environmentalism

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Forgive and Let Live Talk About the Wither To Catch a Leaf An Embarrassment of Richard Well’s Hells That’s All Wells and Good Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Faith, Hope, and Clarity Heat and Serve Tricks of the Fair Trade […]

New study finds women dress better when they’re fertile

A new study has found that women tend to dress better when they're fertile, according to an article published today by Reuters. Perhaps there is good reason environmentalists, at least as far as the stereotype is concerned, dress poorly. All the hemp ponchos and fleece jackets are really just another way to walk the talk on population control. At least, that's my new excuse for dressing like this. It's my fertility camouflage.

The greatest email ever

On Sunday, we got one of the greatest emails ever. Here it is:

Dear Gristers!

Last Friday Al Gore was presented the first copy of the Dutch version of his book "An inconvenient truth"; he also attended the grand opening of his film in the prestigious Amsterdam Tuschinski film theatre and introduced his film there. All of this would not have happened without YOU.

I (I am the founder -in 1982- and director of a small environmental communication agency near Amsterdam,) learnt from the book and the film through your daily email. I contacted the Dutch publisher that had published his earlier book about the date the Dutch version would be out. To my astonishment they said they would not publish it ("we did not earn money on his first book, and we changed our publishing policy"). No other Dutch publisher, I found out, had bought the translations rights. So I did, and translated it my self, and organised him to be there at the occasion of the presentation and the film premiere. Attached two photo's of the event (the guy left of Gore is me ... The guy to the right behind Gore on the second photo is the Dutch minister for the Environment).

So: THANK YOU! Without Grist there would definitively NOT have been a Dutch edition.

And as I emailed to you before: I thoroughly enjoy your work as well as they way you do it! Keep up the good work!)

best regards,

Maurits Groen
Maurits Groen Environment & Communication

Here's a picture of Maurits with Gore:

A guide to offsetting your carbon emissions

Taking a vacation to the other side of the planet is the ultimate luxury, but it’s one laced with guilt. On top of developed-country remorse, a new form of shame is beginning to stalk those of us taking “unnecessary” airplane rides: What about all that carbon dioxide spewing into the friendly but beleaguered skies? That’s […]

And Justice for All

NAACP’s Theodore Carrington chats about an environmental-justice tour After seven days of community visits around the country, the Environmental Justice for All Tour wrapped up in Washington, D.C., last week. It was intended to draw attention to the need for, well, environmental justice for all — including those who live near huge toxic spills, home-shaking […]

Things That Go Dump in the Night

Illegal dumps sprout up across the American West Amber waves of grain? Purple mountain majesties? These days in the American West, it’s illegal dumps that are proliferating under the spacious skies: heaps of car parts, furniture, appliances, and household trash discarded on public land. The Bureau of Land Management has identified 6,482 illegal dumps since […]

The New College Try

Maine college is first to pledge carbon neutrality College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, has pledged to become the first college in the U.S. to go carbon neutral. New president David Hales announced in his inauguration speech Sunday that the tiny college will avoid, reduce, or offset all greenhouse-gas emissions generated by campus […]

Keep on Hawkin’ in the Free World

Chemical-laden products banned by other nations are sold throughout the U.S. To protect their citizens from dangerous chemicals, the European Union, Japan, and other nations have tightened their environmental standards for hundreds of manufactured products in recent years. Meanwhile, the U.S. EPA hasn’t restricted any industrial compounds since an unsuccessful attempt to ban asbestos 18 […]

Governors’ races along Eastern seaboard could lead to big environmental gains

While the Mark Foley mess has everyone’s attention riveted on the fast-changing congressional landscape, enviros should also keep an eye on gubernatorial races this November. “The state level is where all the truly positive environmental action has been happening in recent years,” says Tony Massaro, senior vice president for political affairs with the D.C.-based League […]

He couldn’t have done this a year ago? Or 18 years ago?

He was arguably the most powerful man in Washington for more than 18 years, but former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan waited until retirement to finally come out in favor of a gas tax. Writes Daniel Gross in the NYT:

As a rule, Mr. Greenspan, a Republican by temperament and background who was reappointed twice by Bill Clinton, adhered closely to Republican orthodoxy on taxes: the lower the better. Mr. Greenspan was hardly a proponent of raising taxes on energy to encourage conservation, a policy prescription generally associated with the politicians and economists of the left.

Until now. In late September, as he spoke to a group of business executives in Massachusetts, a question was posed as to whether he'd like to see an increase in the federal gasoline tax, which has stood at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993. "Yes, I would," Mr. Greenspan responded with atypical clarity. "That's the way to get consumption down. It's a national security issue."

Want to bet Ben Bernanke will wait until retirement before he comes to the same sage conclusion?