Climate Culture

One Giant Spring for Mankind

Last Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the book that galvanized a generation of environmentalists and catapulted the movement out of the margins of American culture and into the political spotlight. The book also resulted in real policy changes: “Silent Spring” was a major factor in the creation […]

No Screen Savior

California Gov. Gray Davis (D) vetoed legislation yesterday that would have created a program to recycle electronic products and keep their hazardous components out of landfills. The high-tech industry strongly opposed the legislation, which would have levied a $10 recycling fee per new computer or television sold. Environmentalists, who say the veto reflects the political […]

This New House

No, it doesn’t involve skeet shooting while cross-country skiing; in the Solar Decathlon sponsored by the Department of Energy, university students are competing to design the best solar-powered home. The houses are being built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where together they will form a temporary solar village. The competing teams hail from […]

Thighmasters of the Universe

Bowl Game

In an effort to reconcile the problems posed by a growing population and shrinking water supplies, city councilors are contemplating a plan that would retrofit existing buildings with water-saving toilets. The Public Utilities Committee has recommended that the full council adopt a plan whereby builders would retrofit toilets to earn credits toward new building permits. […]

Feeling Gassy

Negotiators for the U.S. House and Senate have reached an agreement on new fuel-economy rules that would expand rather than decrease the country’s oil consumption. Under the agreement, automakers would continue to receive credits through the model year 2008 for manufacturing vehicles that can run on both ethanol and gasoline. These credits are used to […]

Umbra on environmentally friendly communities, again

Dearest Readers, In my last column, I received a plea from James “Captain Planet” Fitzpatrick of Florida, a firefighter looking to relocate to a small, friendly, environmentally conscious mountain community with good schools, reasonably clean air and water, and no polluting companies or toxic waste sites. As this was obviously a job for discerning Grist […]

Locke and Key

Meanwhile, in the other Washington, Gov. Gary Locke (D) signed an executive order yesterday calling for sustainable environmental practices in all state agencies. The order includes a directive that the state’s $1.1 billion annual purchasing power be spent on environmentally friendly products and conservation. Washington already has some exemplary sustainability policies in place, including programs […]

Clothes Call

In yet another trend-setting environmental move by California, Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed into law this week a bill requiring old, inefficient washing machines to be replaced with water-efficient ones by 2007. New washers must now meet a standard of using 9.5 gallons of water to wash one cubic foot of laundry — well below […]

Umbra on environmentally friendly communities

Hello, Umbra, I have been a firefighter for 23 years in Florida and have been reading Grist for the last couple of years. I am very environmentally conscious (probably why my nickname at the fire station is Captain Planet) and am starting to look for a place to move with mountains, small and friendly (preferably […]