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Soda lobbyists say the funniest things
iStockphotoFor sheer shark-jumping, fridge-nuking outrageousness, you just can’t beat the American Beverage Association. In a must-read/listen NPR report, the ABA’s senior vice president for science policy, Maureen Storey, made the claim that soda should play a crucial role in children’s hydration needs: …Children who have been exercising may not drink enough water to get back […]
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ComEd offers Illinois $500M in exchange for guaranteed profits
The gaul of this is hard to put to words. Commonwealth Edison, one of Illinois’ regulated utilities is seeking to take advantage of the state’s budget crisis by offering the state $500 million in exchange for a guarantee of the utility’s future profits. If there’s a better case to be made that a regulated utility […]
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Pundits speak: Oil spill makes climate bill less likely
Satellite image: GeoEyeThe political fallout from the BP oil leak is proving just as difficult to measure as the ecological and economic damage. But three political bloggers who’ve been paying attention to the fight for clean-energy legislation say the odds of a bill passing the Senate are lower than ever. Bradford Plumer asks “Could The […]
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Any drilling moratorium must be accompanied by a commitment to conserve
New America Foundation’s Lisa Margonelli makes a crucial point about the Gulf disaster in an elegant New York Times op-ed: Moratoriums have a moral problem, though. All oil comes from someone’s backyard, and when we don’t reduce the amount of oil we consume, and refuse to drill at home, we end up getting people to […]
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Against a torrent of oil, a trickle of responsibility
Of the many things lacking in the response to the BP spill, responsibility ranks pretty high on the list. From President Obama’s reluctance to reverse his decision to expand offshore drilling, to BP’s shameless attempts to play the innocent victim card, and the far right’s attempts to pin the blame on environmentalists, responsible words and […]
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Leadership lessons in the Gulf
BP’s Drilling Disaster is quickly unfolding to become one of the world’s worst ever environmental catastrophes. Credible sources already are saying that the volume of oil gushing into the Gulf exceeds the Exxon Valdez, and shockingly, there is no end in sight. As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, as fisherman watch […]
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Bill McKibben talks about how to live and organize on a reshaped ‘Eaarth’
Bill McKibben’s new book Eaarth argues that our carbon pollution has already reshaped the planet enough that it deserves a new name. McKibben has been thinking hard about climate change for longer than almost anybody else, both as a writer and as an activist, and he doesn’t sugarcoat the situation. He stopped by Grist’s office […]
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Beyond Petroleum
My friend Dean was mostly drunk rowing his raft down the Grand Canyon. He was also naked most of the time, except for a piece of climbing webbing around his waist, ostensibly to help him if the raft flipped. As he headed into the huge rapids of the Inner Gorge, Dean used to cackle and […]
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Message from America’s heartland: We’re ready for oil independence
Biobutanol, anaerobic digestors, hydrogen, wind, solar, fuel-cell, and plug-in electric vehicles — there’s a seemingly endless list of alternative power sources at all stages of development … in Ohio. Yes, Ohio, where images of rust belts, factory closings, and rising unemployment too often come to mind. The Pew Charitable Trusts have recognized the state as […]
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One thing Graham is right about: Obama
One aspect of the Graham-Reid flustercluck has gone underappreciated. Atrios, Digby, David Dayen, and other lefties think that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is just being a giant douchebag. His intention was always to string Democrats along, water down the climate bill, and bail at the last minute. I’ve heard from some folks in the green […]
