Latest Articles

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has enviros worried

Samuel Alito, to the right of President Bush (ahem). Photo: Paul Morse/The White House. Enviro advocates in D.C. have spent the last 24 hours digging through Samuel Alito‘s extensive paper trail for clues as to how he might vote on environmental cases were he confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. A staunchly conservative judge […]

Mo’ better design

The mtvU episode in which Cameron Diaz and William McDonough surprised Stanford's "Maintaining Sustainable Building Projects" class is now available (though you need the dread IE to watch it).

Sadly, the class didn't seem too interested in Professor McDonough's lecture on cradle-to-cradle design until Cameron appeared. As Ms. Diaz said, "sustainability isn't sexy ... which is why I am here." (Ok, the second part was my addition.)

And Bill, what is up with the bowtie? You're on MTV, yo!

Get your company to clean up its janitorial act

Three years ago, the National Geographic Society’s director of general services wanted to clean up his cleaning operations. Bob Cline launched an investigation into the impacts of maintaining the society’s facilities, examining everything from the chemical composition of cleaning products to the decibel level of vacuums, from filtration systems to fuels. Mess is more. “Basically, […]

Dumping to a Conclusion

Louisiana officials and enviros clash over disposal of hurricane debris The pressure on regional officials to cleanse New Orleans of the trash and debris left by Hurricane Katrina is intense — so intense that eco-groups say they’re cutting corners, sending garbage to areas not equipped to handle it, and on the verge of creating a […]

Arbor Slay

Poverty drives forest loss in Malawi Southern Africa’s Malawi (yes, it’s a country — look it up) loses about 200 square miles of forest a year to illegal logging for firewood and charcoal; over a fifth of the nation’s forests disappeared between 1990 and 2000. Twenty-three tree species are endangered, streams are drying up, air […]

We’ve Got a Beef With That

Federal grazing program loses money hand over hoof Aren’t you just sick of welfare queens sucking off the public teat? We’re talking, of course, about Western ranchers who graze their cattle on public land. A new analysis from the Government Accountability Office reveals that 10 federal agencies spent $144 million managing the government’s grazing program […]

TRI

Bush Greenwatch is good today, with a brief rundown on the woefully underreported story of the U.S. EPA's plan to dramatically cut back the Toxics Release Inventory program, which requires corporations to regularly measure and report their toxic-chemical discharges. The program has, according to the EPA's own data, been a huge success. But apparently Big Business is annoyed by all the paperwork ...

XX Winter Games coming up in Italy

So did you know the Winter Olympics are only a few months away? Because I didn't. I've read about the enviro-hell that is Beijing 2008 and the enviro-heaven that is London 2012, but it totally didn't occur to me until now that the luge (my favorite sport to say) will be broadcast to you and me in February. Torino 2006, baby!

Oh good. They appear to be looking out for the environment.

Sorry -- perhaps this doesn't belong on Gristmill, but I don't have a blog of my own, and I feel like the world (environmental and otherwise) needs to be made aware of the mascots of Torino 2006. Watch the video to be inspired amused vaguely uneasy.

"Neve": she is a gentle, kind and elegant snowball; "Gliz": he is a lively, playful ice cube ... They are the symbol of a young generation that is full of life and energy.

Until their cute little heads melt from global warming! Sigh ...

Heard the one about the eco-mag looking for jokes?

A couple of weeks ago, we asked you for green knock-knock jokes. We got some creative replies, but we know there are more yuks to be had!

So we proudly present the new, improved Great Green Grist Joke-Off. Anything's fair game now: guys walking into bars (ouch), priests changing light bulbs, organic chickens crossing the road. Or link to stuff you've seen: cartoons, gut-busting clips from the Daily Show, ridiculous headlines from your local paper. You name it, we'll guffaw at it. Or at least cluck our tongues softly and shake our heads in wonder.

So go on ... show us the funny! Because if we can't laugh, we'll cry. And nobody wants to see that again.

 

Tectonics puts things in perspective

One of the reasons it's hard to get people to worry about climate change is that it's often considered a long-term problem. Hell, even I have trouble getting worked up about it some days, and I'm paid to do so.

So I was intrigued by this note from a scientist I'd contacted for a story: "Whereas your group is focusing on short-term trends such as climate change and global warming, we are investigating the long-term effects of plate tectonics ... Whereas climate change happens on a time scale of a few hundred years, the formation and breakup of continents takes millions of years."

See, it's all in how you look at it.