Climate Culture

Some students don’t want to go carbon neutral

As an undergrad at Brown University and a veteran organizer with the Sierra Student Coalition, Nathan Wyeth has his ear to the ground on campus sustainability issues. In this occasional column for Grist, Wyeth will report on what's afoot at the campus grassroots level and how he and his fellow students are making their voices heard.

As of today, 202 colleges and universities have pledged to move toward climate neutrality, or net-zero global warming emissions, with the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment. I've been part of a student group pushing Brown University to do the same.

But debate over the legitimacy of the "carbon offsets" that make climate neutrality possible is growing as fast as the number of companies, institutions, even countries that have committed to buying them. Are carbon offsets legit? And what does climate neutrality really mean?

For the past few months, I've been considering a phrase tossed out by my friend and fellow student organizer Billy Parish: climate positive. Consider it a step beyond climate neutral (which never had a very inspiring ring to it anyway) -- when institutions or individuals not only take responsibility for their own impact on the climate and our future but go beyond this to have a positive climate impact on the community around them.

An interview with Julia Russell of the Eco-Home Network

Gristmill commenter Lo Fleming posted a good Q&A with Julia Russell of the Eco-Home Network recently over on her blog. Check it out.

From pop star John Mayer

John Mayer. Photo: sushla via flickr Congratulations to pop star dreamboat John Mayer for penning what can only be termed a reductio ad absurdum of the light-green, change-your-lightbulbs, ten-things-you-can-do, don’t-sweat-it-too-much, caring-a-little-is-OK but caring-too-much-is-square environmentalism. I was going to pick excerpts, but really you gotta read the whole post to get the full impact. Ladies and […]

Not tonight … your CFLs give me a headache

I have to say, this story has sure played out at my house, where my bride lovingly (I hope) refers to me, in moments of teasing (I hope), as "Mr. Conserver Man" for what she considers to be an excessive devotion to making the electric meter spin more slowly and for my habit of figuring out ways to avoid using the car.

But the 100w incandescent in her bedside lamp says that I'm at least smart enough to know when to quit:

That’s One Way to Push Public Transportation

Gasoline-tanker explosion melts bridge, snarls traffic in Bay Area Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents faced a hellish commute today because of a major accident that speaks loads about transportation and convenience in our modern age. Early Sunday, a tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of unleaded gas overturned and exploded, causing a section of highway […]

Imagine: charging polluters to encourage the others!

Sam Smith, publisher of the estimable e-letter The Progressive Review, is perhaps the ultimate pragmatic environmentalist, with a sharp eye for what works and a sharper ability to deflate the pompous and overly-self-loving.

He is often the sole commenter picking up on policy proposals and practices that a less parochial media less obsessed with infotainment would be interested in -- such as the success of congestion charges in London's central district, implemented by Mayor "Red Ken" Livingstone (elected by IRV):

Weekend fun

Hiroyuki Suzuki, first place winner at the 2006 World Yo-Yo Contest:

SLC mayor takes on O’Reilly

Our collective BFF Rocky Anderson takes on Bill O’Reilly (not eco-related necessarily, but funny): Demonstrating that, alarmingly, liberals aren’t actually all that kooky. Or irrational. Shocking. (h/t: News Hounds)

Bull sharks abound in Golden Coast canals

It's no wonder so many people flock to Queensland, Australia. The fastest growing region on the southeast side of the continent down under offers a subtropical climate with an outdoorsy lifestyle -- and an abundance of bull sharks?

These feisty elasmobranches are so abundant in fact that residents are catching them off apartment balconies with rigs no more complicated than a pork chop tied to a string.

Lewis Black on celebs giving green advice

Lewis Black on celebs telling America to go green: "So there you have it, advice on saving the planet Earth from a bunch of people who couldn’t even save Planet Hollywood."