Climate Culture

Zed, last of his species, in "Out of the Frying Pan"

And wishing I'd left the car at home

Editor’s note: Actor and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr., journeyed last month in a natural-gas car from his hometown of Los Angeles to Des Moines, Iowa, site of the nation’s first political caucuses, to raise the profile of clean-car technology. Here he relates his (mis)adventures. Ed — happier in a tree than in a car. […]

Paper Chase

a 50 percent increase in worldwide paper consumption is expected by 2010 115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for personal computers 700 pounds of paper are consumed by the average American each year 10,000 trees are cut down annually in China to make holiday cards 3 cubic yards of landfill space can be […]

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Fallout Shelter

Civilization did not collapse into computational confusion on New Year’s Eve. The worst Y2K glitch I experienced was finding all my email files suddenly dated 1944, and that was easily fixed. What happened? Or rather, what didn’t happen? There is a self-congratulatory answer to that question: We were clever and fast and rich enough to […]

A Kick in the Grass

20 million acres of U.S. land are covered by lawn 1 hour spent mowing a lawn with a gas-powered mower produces as many emissions as 50 hours spent driving an average car 5 percent of U.S. air pollution in summer months is emitted by gas-powered lawn equipment 27,000 gallons of water are needed each week […]

Zed, last of his species, in "Down the Plughole"

Zed, last of his species, in "At the End of His Rope"

Zed, last of his species, in "Wakey Wakey!"

What’s two-feet-tall, yellow, funny, and desperately looking for a date? Introducing Zed, a critter who’s the last of his species, thanks to global warming. He’s now the star of a weekly Grist Magazine comic strip.

Do the Right Thing

I’ve been bewailing the short-term, sound-bite, soul-less way in which the U.S. media greeted the turn not only of a century, but of a millennium. (You know — lists of the top 10 athletes of the century, ads for the soft drink of the new millennium.) Then in from the Internet came welcome news of […]

Run of the Mill-ennium

When I was a kid I looked ahead to the date 2000, so unimaginably far away, with excitement. “Wow, I hope I live to see it! I wonder what it will be like! Imagine being around for the turn of a MILLENNIUM!” So now it’s here. By the grace of God I’ve lived to see […]