Articles by Grist staff

NRDC says video games’ huge energy suckage easily cut

Video game consoles in the United States consumed some 16 billion kilowatt-hours last year, or about enough juice to power the city of San Diego for a year, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council. However, cutting down video games’ impact is relatively easy since the three most popular video game […]

Intelligence report stresses climate change a security threat

A new intelligence report released Thursday that’s intended to brief President-elect Barack Obama on future security threats mentions climate change as a major barrier to national security and international stability. The report echoes climate scientists’ predictions of increased drought and flooding, while also focusing on climate change’s impacts on world food supplies, U.S. military installations, […]

USDA close to approving relatively weak organic standards for fish

The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week inched closer to approving organic rules for fish for the first time that would let “organic” fish eat up to 25 percent of their diet from non-organic sources, a move which has irked organic advocates worried about sullying otherwise relatively strict standards for organic meat products.

Cell-phone chargers rated on energy efficiency

How energy-efficient is your cell-phone charger? (And why have you never thought to ask?) The world’s five biggest cell-phone manufacturers have rated the chargers they sell, from an energy-sucking one star to an eco-friendly five stars. If everyone with a cell phone “switched to a four- or five-star charger,” declares Nokia, “this could save the […]