Climate Climate & Energy

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  • Dispassion as the world ends: The absent heart of the great climate affair

    Photo: Adam D. SacksIn “The Fallacy of Climate Activism,” I suggest that we as climate activists are not telling the unadulterated truth — which seems to worsen daily — to the public.  This is one critically important reason we’re making so little progress in changing behavior and politics commensurate with the drastic acceleration of global […]

    Adam Sacks Climate & Energy

  • Should the Department of Justice investigate Big Coal bedlam?

    UPDATE: Every American — including the Army Corps of Engineers — must watch this powerful new 20-minute film by Chad Stevens on the real costs and consequences of mountaintop removal mining: Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining. Now, the good news: on behalf of their children’s future, coalfield residents and miners calmly came […]

    Jeff Biggers Climate & Energy

  • The risky plan to dump coal ash in an old Tennessee mine

    Since a dam burst at its Kingston coal-fired power plant last December and dumped more than a billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge into a nearby community and river, the federal Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has decided to change the way it stores its coal waste, transitioning from wet landfills like the one that […]

    Sue Sturgis Climate & Energy

  • Bring seeds to the coalfields: Vote for this clean energy project

    Want to take on Big Coal with a couple clicks on your keyboard? A fantastic new project, SEEDS — Sustainable Energy and Economic Diversification program — is taking root in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, at ground zero in the mountaintop removal mining and coalfield uprising, and it needs your Grist-reading help: If […]

    Jeff Biggers Climate & Energy

  • New air conditioning and furnace standards mean big savings

    The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other efficiency groups released a negotiated agreement with manufacturers of residential air conditioners and furnaces yesterday, marking the end of a journey to come to consensus that lasted many months.  I negotiated on NRDC’s behalf and we will now take this agreement to both Congress and the Department […]

    Lane Burt Climate & Energy

  • What Bill McKibben learned from the gay rights march

    Courtesy half.apple via FlickrIf the mainstream media is going to largely ignore a mass demonstration on the national mall—such as Sunday’s National Equality March for gay rights—public demonstrations might as well be small, numerous, and spread all over, says 350.org founder Bill McKibben. Also, they should be beautiful. McKibben—writer, Grist board member, and an occasional […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Climate & Energy

  • Should DOJ investigate Big Coal bedlam?

    UPDATE: Every American–including the Army Corps of Engineers–must watch this powerful new 20-minute film by Chad Stevens on the real costs and consequences of mountaintop removal mining: Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining Now, the good news: On behalf of their children’s future, coalfield residents and miners calmly came together in the Coal […]

    Jeff Biggers Climate & Energy

  • Stewart Brand’s nuclear enthusiasm falls short on facts and logic

    Supporting technical details and citations for this post can be found here: “Four Nuclear Myths” (PDF). Whole Earth Discipline, by Stewart Brand (Viking, 2009)I have known Stewart Brand as a friend for many years. I have admired his original and iconoclastic work, which has had significant impact. In his new book, Whole Earth Discipline: an […]

    Amory Lovins Climate & Energy

  • The U.S. military’s battle to wean itself off oil

    Don’t ask what kind of mileage it gets.In the summer of 2006, Marine Corps Major General Richard Zilmer sent the Pentagon an unusual “Priority 1” request for emergency battlefield supplies. Stationed at a temporary base in Fallujah, Zilmer was commanding a force of 30,000 troops responsible for protecting Al Anbar, the vast territory in western […]

    Amanda Little Climate & Energy

  • Lester Brown on his must-read new book “Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization”

    October 13, 2009 Notwithstanding the Superfreaks, a lot of good books on global warming and its solutions are coming out right now (see “The Invention of Lying about Climate Change“).  One of the best is Lester Brown’s “Plan B 4.0:  Mobilizing to Save Civilization.”  In his book, Brown lays out the too-little-discussed but devastating impacts […]

    Joseph Romm Climate & Energy