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  • Royal wedding will be slightly greener wretched pile of excess than usual

    I've noticed that I have zero posts in my Twitter feed about how awesomesauce the royal wedding is, and 2930820385 about how nobody else will shut up re: the royal wedding and its awesomeness. But clearly somebody somewhere is into this, so okay, this one's for you: Looks like Prince Harry and Princess Hermione, or whoever, are taking steps to turn their wedding from a completely over-the-top exercise in overconsumption to an eco-completely-over-the-top exercise in overconsumption.

    Jess Zimmerman Health

  • No, ozone regulations were not easy

    There’s a certain story you hear from the Breakthrough crowd these days. It goes like this: climate change is not like previous environmental problems. When it came to ozone depletion or acid rain, there were economically viable technologies available. That made it easier for policymakers to impose regulatory limits. Alternatives to fossil fuel energy are […]

    David Roberts Health

  • AEI blogger celebrates the success of the acid rain program, without acknowledging its existence

    Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. For Earth Day, Steve Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute posted this shocker: “Energy Fact of the Week: Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Coal Have Declined 54 Percent.” He includes some nice government charts, which I’m sure he won’t mind my reproducing below. But from Hayward’s blog, you’d think this […]

    David Doniger Health

  • Underground environmentalism in communist East Germany

    When I had a free afternoon during my recent trip to Berlin, I headed down Unter den Linden (I love German street names — my hotel was on the Albrechtstraße, which is a whole meal in a word) to the relatively new DDR Museum, which showcases ordinary life under socialist rule in East Germany. It’s […]

    David Roberts Health

  • Will Richard Daley, Chicago’s outgoing ‘green’ mayor, help quash coal pollution?

    Will Richard Daley’s last month in office be marred by two old coal plants?Photo: Kate GardinerCross-posted from Midwest Energy News. A long-stalled Chicago ordinance that could force the city’s two aging coal-burning power plants to greatly reduce emissions or shut down now has enough backing to pass at the city council’s next meeting. But proponents […]

    Kari Lydersen Health

  • Barton denies any ‘medical negative’ from mercury, smog, or soot pollution

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. At a congressional hearing on Friday designed to lay the groundwork for an effort to delay critical EPA toxic pollution standards, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) claimed that reducing emissions of toxic mercury, sulfur dioxide, and soot would not bring health benefits. Though conceding he is “not a medical doctor,” Barton offered […]

    Brad Johnson Health

  • One year after the BP oil spill, dangers remain

    A year ago, the American public, government regulators, and Gulf of Mexico families had been lulled into a false sense of security over the safety of offshore drilling and the ability of the oil industry to respond in the event of a severe spill. After years of systemic complacency and mismanagement by the U.S. government […]

    Ed Markey Health

  • Why the Supreme Court should let states sue the country’s biggest carbon polluters

    This post was coauthored by Matt Pawa. He and I represent the land conservation trusts in American Electric Power vs. Connecticut. Today, the Supreme Court hears oral argument in American Electric Power vs. Connecticut — a case in which six states and other plaintiffs are trying to put emissions limits on America’s five largest greenhouse-gas […]

    David Doniger Health

  • This is what a Power Shift looks like [SLIDESHOW]

    Thousands of young climate activists descended on Washington, D.C., over the weekend for the third biennial Power Shift conference. Then on Monday they took their message to the streets and the president’s doorstep. Check out these photos by Jay Mallin to get a sense of what went down. Photo: Jay Mallin The Power Shift crowd […]

    Grist staff Health

  • House Republicans attack life-saving mercury and air toxics standards

    It would be irresponsible to deny clean air to the American people.Photo: BronxCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. And so it begins. Long a rumored dirty secret, Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) confirmed today that House Republicans plan to introduce legislation to delay mercury and air toxics standards that will save up to 26,000 lives […]

    John Walke Health