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Instead of yelling at us, yell at each other! Here at Grist HQ, we receive lots of letters from readers, more than we can possibly print in our Letters to the Editor section. We love hearing from you — but wouldn’t you like other readers to hear you as well? If only there were some […]

Priorities for a Healthy … zzz …

Via Jon Stahl I saw the launch of Priorities for a Healthy Washington, a coalition of Washington state enviro organizations. I looked over the site quickly and went on about my day -- it didn't make much of an impression.

Now Alex Steffen asks: Hold on, why can't enviros make a damn impression? The PHW site is business as usual, he says, "a great example of environmentalists once again describing the steak rather than selling the sizzle."

Check out the site, read Steffen's diagnosis and suggestions, and let us know what you think.

Politics after disasters

Here's a fascinating piece by Peter Ford in Christian Science Monitor on the political effects of natural disasters throughout history, with some discussion of the possible political ramifications of the tsunami. Good to see someone going a little deeper than the "man clings to tree for two weeks" level.

Meteor Blades

Dan E. Arvizu will take his seat as the eighth director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on Friday. The federally funded, privately managed lab is the premier U.S. research institution for renewable energy and also conducts research into energy efficiency.  Its goal is not only to pioneer new technologies, but to get the fruit of its endeavors into the marketplace.

All I know about Mr. Arvizu is what I read in the DOE press release and what little is available about him on the Internet. He seems to have plenty of the right credentials and experience for the job. I wish him well.

But a new director won't mean more money for the laboratory, which will be operating on around $200 million again this year, about a sixth of the nation's entire renewables and efficiency budget. That's less than half the 1980 budget of NREL's predecessor, the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), where I went to work in 1978. Indeed, this year's entire R&E budget, which is poking at the $1.3 billion level, is only 40% of the R&E budget of a quarter century ago. It ought to be 400%. That would put it in the range of three months worth of what we're spending on Iraq.

Paper or pla… oh, fer chrissake!

Can you ever have enough answers to the paper-or-plastic question? Of course not! Here's another, from Treehugger.

Where’s Horton When You Need Him?

Natural disasters boon, bust for marine animals The latest in grim tsunami news comes via Sri Lankan sea-turtle researcher Kithsiri Kannangara, whose turtle hatchery was completely wiped out by the enormous waves, which have produced more tragedies than the ancient Greeks. In addition to a large leatherback turtle, seven rare green turtles, and some $500,000 […]

How Green Is My Valley

Silicon Valley gets excited about clean-energy tech Rising oil prices and increasing competition from fast-developing countries like China have some energy entrepreneurs in California’s tech-savvy Silicon Valley increasingly excited about the potential of good ol’ American ingenuity to curb the world’s addiction to fossil fuels — and make a buck doing it. Companies like SunPower […]

Baby, You Can Drive My Car — In 2010

Lots more hybrids and hydrogen cars in the pipeline We begin with a public service announcement: Quit driving so damn much. Ride your bike. Take a bus. Walk. OK, with that out of the way, we turn to auto news, which is plentiful. Ford announced it would add four new hybrids to its lineup, at […]

Global warming consensus

A couple of things I missed over the holiday break: Via this interesting piece on climate change consensus on RealClimate I found this interesting piece on climate change consensus in the Washington Post. Read 'em -- we'll be talking about this more soon.

Fred Thompson, CEO of Jane Goodall Institute, answers questions

Fred Thompson. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I’m president and CEO of the Jane Goodall Institute. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute “mission accomplished”? Our mission is to inspire and empower people to take informed, compassionate action to make the world a better place for people, animals, […]