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Latest Articles

  • Whither New Orleans?

    Speaking of rebuilding New Orleans, NPR's Living on Earth this week talks to a cross-section of city denizens -- including an artist, a bar owner, an environmental-justice activist, and a co-chair of Gov. Blanco's Louisiana Recovery Authority -- to get their opinions on what should come next for the Big Easy. Listen, or check out text and photos, on the LOE website.

    Lisa Hymas Uncategorized

  • Top green-building system is in desperate need of repair

    This piece is excerpted from the essay “LEED Is Broken; Let’s Fix It.” The full essay can be found here. Pan of green gables. Once the narrow province of hippies in beads and Birkenstocks, the green-building world has in the last five years blossomed and taken on a professional sheen. That’s thanks in large part […]

    Auden Schendler Cities

  • LEED green-building program confronts critics and growing pains

    “I didn’t like the ‘LEED is broken’ part, but I did like the ‘Let’s fix it’ part,” said U.S. Green Building Council President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, referring to a critique of his organization’s building-certification program that has been much discussed in green-building circles. Green building is growing up. Published this spring by somewhat sympathetic […]

    Ted Bowen Cities

  • Fallen Idles

    Electrified truck stops let tired drivers turn off their diesel engines Long-haul trucking, however much our economy depends on it, is an environmental nightmare. For one thing, there’s all the gasoline burned. For another, as a recent episode of The Daily Show revealed, there are the sealed bottles of pee truckers throw out their windows […]

    Grist staff Technology

  • Let My People Slow

    Katrina revealed longstanding “automobile apartheid” One of Hurricane Katrina’s many lessons is that those who walk, cycle, or ride public transit instead of owning a car get treated like second-class citizens. Getting stranded during a natural disaster is an extreme example, but it’s of a piece with public-policy decisions across the country that prioritize the […]

    Grist staff Cities

  • Stickin’ to the Mann

    “Hockey stick” climate study largely holds up to collegial scrutiny The dispute over global-warming science has become something of a soap opera in the U.S., and the latest episode portrays a stinging blow to skeptics. Previously, on As the World Burns: In June, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chair of the House Energy Committee, ordered an […]

    Grist staff Climate & Energy

  • Shake, Rattle, and Bankroll

    Hillary calls for Big Oil to fund a cleaner energy future Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) says the oil industry should pony up for a multibillion-dollar “Strategic Energy Fund” that would invest in clean-energy technologies and help folks struggling with spiking heating costs. At the Cleantech Venture Forum in D.C. yesterday, Clinton called for Big Oil […]

    Grist staff Politics

  • LEEDing Us Astray?

    Green-building certification system confronts growing pains and critics Is LEED broken? The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program is rapidly becoming the dominant system for certifying buildings as eco-friendly. But green-building practitioners Auden Schendler and Randy Udall fear the program is seriously flawed. In a provocative essay that’s been stirring […]

    Grist staff Uncategorized

  • Answers to readers’ most frequently asked questions about green dilemmas

    Should I use paper or plastic bags at the grocery store? Neither one is better. Best choice: bring your own cloth bag. Should I dry my hands with paper towels or the electric blow dryer? Use the dryer if you can’t drip dry. Should I wash my dishes by hand or use the dishwasher? If […]

    Ask Umbra® Culture

  • The built environment discriminates against those who choose not to drive

    We're happy to present this guest essay from Joel S. Hirschhorn, author of Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money and former Director of Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources at the National Governors Association. He can be reached through SprawlKills.com.

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    Analyses of the failure of all levels of government to prevent or effectively manage the Katrina calamity in New Orleans have generally missed a crucial point. Alongside bias against poor people and African-Americans is automobile apartheid, born of fifty years of suburban sprawl. First-class citizens drive motor vehicles, second-class Americans walk, cycle, or ride public transit. Certainly many of the latter are poor, but millions more are middle-class Americans.

    When emergency response largely ignores the plight of second-class citizens, no one should be surprised.

    Automobile apartheid means anyone who wants mobility through walking, cycling, or public transportation suffers discrimination in a built environment designed for automobiles. In the past 20 years, as automobile addiction has increased, sprawl has run rampant, the number of trips people take by walking has decreased by more than 42 percent, and obesity has skyrocketed.

    Personal freedom and independence should mean more than the ability to go wherever one wants, whenever one wants. Americans should also have the freedom to travel how they want. When cars are the only option, freedom is diminished.

    David Roberts Uncategorized