Articles by Grist staff

U.S., avoiding action at current climate meeting, announces new climate meeting

President Bush has announced a climate-change meeting in Hawaii next month for 17 of the world’s major greenhouse-gas emitters to talk about setting goals for curbing emissions. The meeting is a follow-up to an anticlimactic summit that Bush hosted in late September. Oddly enough, during the pivotal climate-change meeting going on in Bali right this […]

House passes landmark energy bill; Senate up next

Today, by a 235-181 vote mostly along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an energy bill that represents a decisive break with decades of energy policy focused on fossil fuels. The bill, shepherded through the House via the tenacious arm-twisting and ass-kicking of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), would: raise auto fuel-economy standards for […]

San Francisco mayor proposes city carbon tax

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that in November 2008 he will submit a carbon tax to voters for their approval. If it passes, it would be only the second such carbon tax in a U.S. city, the first was Boulder, Colo., last year. The draft plan would raise utility taxes for businesses but […]

At least 215 climate scientists sign declaration urging action on climate change

In a notable first, some 215 of the world’s top climate scientists from over 25 countries have signed a declaration directed at the leaders attending the United Nations climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, urging strong action against climate change. In a relatively toned-down document, the scientists said in their own way that climate change really, […]