Climate Culture

Umbra on tent caterpillars

Dear Umbra, In beautiful Virginia, this is the time of year that the caterpillars start making their “tents” in branches of shrubbery and trees in our yards. Conventional wisdom has been to destroy them, as they will surely eat the leaves inside the tent, causing some damage to the infected tree/shrub. So I have two […]

Corporate evangelical leaders cloak opposition to climate policy behind concern for poor

Those of you following Grist’s news feed (if you’re not, you should) are aware that last week a group of conservative evangelicals launched the "We Get It!" campaign, arguing against action on global warming. We’ve written a great deal on Grist about the split in the evangelical leadership between those who recognize the danger of […]

Grist is cooking up a new site; what do you want to see in it?

I have exciting matters to discuss, but first, two apologies. First apology Lately, my blogging has been cursory, rushed, incomplete, and a little sucky. I haven’t been responding to emails, writing the longer pieces I’ve promised various people, or otherwise keeping up with my professional obligations. "What’s new?" you ask. What’s new is that I […]

Gallup shows Americans making smart choices to break the gas habit.

It took soaring fuel prices for old habits to shift. But they're shifting alright. Just take a look at these poll results -- Gallup finds that big numbers of Americans are making changes in their daily lives to deal with higher gas prices. Here's a snapshot:

Conservative Christians launch skeptical climate campaign

Conservative religious leaders have launched a “We Get It!” campaign that just goes to prove that saying something doesn’t make it so. The campaign aims to gather a million signatures on a petition opposing climate-change action, with the argument that tackling global warming will hurt the world’s poor. “Our stewardship of creation must be based […]

From Bushy to Beef

Tail lickin’ good Give squirrel a whirl: it’s all natural, free-range, and as local as it gets. Apparently, “Southern fried squirrel is good. And tandoori style works. It is especially tasty fricasséed with Cornish cream and walnuts.” Now that’s just nuts. Where the sun don’t shine Not ’til we met the solar-powered bra and the […]

Prius sales top one million

The Toyota Prius is "the world's first mass-produced petrol-electric hybrid car to hit 1 million in sales." More than half of those were sold in North America. Toyota's goal is to sell more than one million per year.

I own one and must say it is a terrific car. I get about 45 miles per gallon combined city and highway -- double the mpg of my old Saturn, which was not as big.

I think the comments from the Wired blog bear repeating, considering how GM (and others) mocked Toyota for pushing what they claimed was a money-losing vehicle:

Val Kilmer to star in Arctic horror flick

Photo: © Val Kilmer This summer, the Iceman cometh … to a horror flick about global warming. The Thaw, which begins shooting mid-June with star Val Kilmer, is based on the premise that melting ice caps reveal a woolly mammoth hosting a deadly prehistoric parasite that comes back to life to infect the world … […]

Adrian Grenier’s eco-entourage heats up Planet Green

I mentioned Adrian Grenier’s upcoming project, The Green Life, back in January, but the latest scoop is that the show — billed as a makeover series wherein Grenier and "his entourage" help everyday folk go green — has been renamed Alter Eco and will premiere in June. According to LAist, one of the first renovations […]

U. of Washington to create big eco-college

The University of Washington is planning to create the largest environmental college evah. The proposed College of the Environment would become the 5th-largest of U-Dub’s 17 colleges, combining its current schools of forestry, fishery sciences, atmospheric sciences, earth and space sciences, marine affairs, and oceanography. “Certainly, higher education in general has a responsibility to tackle […]