Articles by Grist staff

Oil execs questioned on high oil and gasoline prices

Executives from five huge oil companies were questioned by members of Congress Tuesday amid frustration over high oil and gasoline prices. Big-wigs from BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell did their best to eschew blame for high prices while explaining that they still need billions of dollars in subsidies. They also said increasing […]

James Hansen writes to Duke Energy on coal

This is a guest post by noted NASA climate scientist James Hansen.

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The captains of industry, perhaps more than anyone else, have the ability to solve the global warming problem, so they deserve attention. But different strategies are needed for a Mr. Rogers or a Darth Vader.

Some may argue that Mr. Rogers, $28M/year chairman of Duke Energy, is just another executive focused on short-term profits, with any concern for his children and grandchildren directed toward their portfolios rather than the world they will inherit.

I have a different impression. Mr. Rogers attended a talk on climate change that I gave in North Carolina. That doesn't prove much. And the words in Duke newspaper ads ("Cliffside [coal-fired power plant] -- Good for the Environment and North Carolina") have the same ring as those of celebs and other well-to-dos who purchase "carbon offsets" to "balance" their carbon emissions. Mr. Rogers, in using the rationale that new coal plants are more efficient than old ones, is misguided, but he does not deserve the enmity that Darth Vader has earned.

(The problem, in the thinking of both celebs and Mr. Rogers, is failure to recognize that burning fossil fuels adds CO2 to the air that we cannot practically get back. A large fraction of the elevated CO2 will remain for many centuries. Potential offset by growing trees is limited and that drawdown potential will be needed to reduce airborne CO2 back beneath the dangerous level, to avert centuries-long overshoot of the dangerous CO2 level [PDF]. We simply cannot put the CO2 from most of the remaining fossil fuels into the air. Most of the remaining coal must be left in the ground or used with CO2 capture and storage. It does not help to burn the coal more efficiently or more slowly, because of the long lifetime of the airborne CO2.)

Last week, I sent the following letter to Mr. Rogers:

Maya Lin’s latest memorial will pay tribute to the planet

Maya Lin, an artist best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is making plans for a tribute to what has passed from the earth — literally. Her planned memorial will list the names of animals, birds, and plants that have gone extinct. “The top 10 songbirds we grew up with are […]

Rapper, rocker compete in eco-reality show

Rapper Ludacris and rocker Tommy Lee will be teaming up for a new eco-reality series called Battleground Earth. Together, the motley crew (!) will compete in various challenges aimed at highlighting green issues — though the show is actually “designed to emphasize entertainment over eco-preaching.” Hmm … ya think?