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Fear, Kitty Kitty Kitty

Humans struggle to live peacefully with beasties Large carnivores have made impressive comebacks in some parts of the U.S. Now the question is how humans can live with them in harmony. In Oregon, after cougars were hunted to near-extinction, voters banned the practice of hunting with radio-collared dogs. The state’s big-cat population has since jumped […]

Central Dark

New York City dims skyscraper lights to help save birds Love cities? Love birds? Wish the former would stop killing the latter? Audubon wants to help. Its “Lights Out New York” effort is encouraging Big Apple building owners to turn lights down or off above the 40th floor, from midnight to daylight, during spring and […]

Acquittin’ Time

Judge dismisses murder charges against Mexican peasant ecologist Mexican forest activist Felipe Arreaga was freed last week after 10 months in jail, acquitted by a judge on murder charges stemming from the 1998 death of rancher and landowner Bernardino Bautista’s son. Arreaga is a leader in the peasant-ecologist movement of Mexico’s Petatlan Sierra, which gained […]

The Weak in Review

New Orleans floodwalls should have stood up to Katrina’s storm surge Why did the floodwalls on Lake Pontchartrain fail to protect New Orleans? The official explanation from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been that the key 17th Street and London Avenue floodwalls were built to protect against a Category 3 hurricane — a […]

The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow

The defeat of Cali’s solar initiative isn’t the end of the fight California’s Million Solar Roofs initiative crashed and burned, thanks to a malodorous combination of parochial politics and interest-group stubbornness. But hope is not lost, says David Hochschild, director of policy at Vote Solar Initiative. The California Public Utilities Commission is authorized to implement […]

California’s Million Solar Roofs moving ahead, and setting pace for national climate action

The defeat in the California legislature of the bipartisan Million Solar Roofs bill earlier this month was a big blow, but the initiative -- and the broader spirit behind it -- are carrying on, says David Hochschild, director of policy at Vote Solar Initiative, a nonprofit working to bring solar energy into the mainstream. Here, Hochschild shares his take in an op-ed written for Grist:

Reflections by moderate Republicans from environmental days of yore

I'm attending the kick-off event of Duke University's new Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, a science-policy shop within the extremely well-endowed Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. The crowd is large and august, with moderate Republicans from a different age of US environmental politics taking center stage.

Russell Train, the second EPA administrator, told stories of exploiting Nixon's political interest in environmental issues (he wanted to neutralize a potential wedge issue if Muskie had been the 1972 nominee) to get some of the country's landmark legislation through. Bipartisanship was the name of the game then, a stark contrast to today. Video of Train's talk (as well as Jared Diamond's and Richard Osbourne's of Duke Energy) is available here.

A family sends firsthand accounts from the rally

In a massive grassroots campaign to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, thousands of citizen lobbyists descended upon the U.S. Capitol yesterday to protest drilling plans and lobby Congress before a pivotal vote this fall. The Arctic Refuge Action Day events were coordinated by a number of major environmental groups, grassroots organizers, and volunteer "bus captains" who drove protestors from as far as Oregon and Alaska to Washington, D.C.

Grist was lucky enough to catch up with one such vanful: Brad and Alicia Black and their two tot-sized greens.

Brad and Alicia, both teachers, dropped everything to begin their journey from St. Louis, Mo., to D.C. 10 weeks ago. Piloting an Arctic Refuge Action logo-emblazoned van, they made pit stops throughout the Midwest to appear at zoos, bicycle races, farmers' markets, parades, concerts, and other public events to raise awareness about the upcoming rally and the issues at stake. They also maintained a blog -- along with the drivers of a rally van from the Northeast -- detailing their adventures throughout the trip.

Brad describes the range of people they spoke to on their trip across the country:

Do as I Say, Not as I Vote

Majority leave environmental concerns behind at the ballot box Most Americans want tough laws protecting air, land, and water — but only about 1 in 5 say environmental issues have been a major influence on how they vote. According to a new survey, these numbers hold up across party lines, with 74 percent of Republicans […]

Gulf Toast

Woods, wetlands, and marine ecosystems hit hard by storm, pollution The Gulf Coast’s estuaries, wetlands, and cypress swamps are hurting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The storm damaged 25 national wildlife refuges, and recovery costs are expected to be at least $93 million — about a quarter of the federal refuge budget. In Mississippi’s […]