That Darn Pat

Coal-fired cooperative coughs up cash to climate crank Say you don’t like the results of climate science. What to do?...

Umbra on washing your car

Dear Umbra, What can I do about washing my car in a more eco-friendly way? Is phosphate-free soap enough, or...

Gift ideas and holiday cheer from Grist readers and staff

The holiday season is upon us, and you know what that means: bajillions of crazed consumers seeking sales assistants full...

Jason D. Scorse tries to clear up the confusion

There is a lot of confusion over the meaning of free markets and property rights, for a variety of reasons. The following are some additional clarifications for all interested environmentalists (please see earlier posts for some background):

Property-rights initiatives threaten environmental protections in four Western states

Field of dreams or field of nightmares? It depends who you ask. Photos: iStockphoto When you hear the phrase “a...

Fuel cells take a blow

Via Engineer-Poet, the European Fuel Cell Forum -- who you'd expect to be pro-fuel cell -- has dealt a major blow to the idea of fuel cell cars powered by hydrogen. Noting that hydrogen will, under any reasonable assumption, continue to be less efficient and more costly than electricity, the EFCF has decided to abandon the most prominent form of automotive fuel cell, the proton exchange membrane. They have not, however, abandoned fuel cells altogether:

An interview with Ted Carrington of NJ NAACP

The Environmental Justice For All Tour wrapped up last Monday in Washington, D.C., where the Northeast and Southern tours united to lobby their federal representatives and gain more national attention for the environmental justice issues they had seen around the country. After seven days on the road, with stops in multiple communities each day, tour participants were tired but energized by the outpouring of support and solidarity they found along the route.

Tour participant Theodore Carrington, second vice president of the New Jersey NAACP, took a few minutes to recap the week's events and talk about his hopes for the future of the environmental justice movement.

Old amusement parks don’t die, they just … become condos

Mat Lindstedt was a typical 12-year-old growing up in San Jose during the 1970s. He spent his summers braving the...

A smidgen more madness

Oh, what's that? You're still hankering for nuclear madness? OK, here's a digestif:

As the use of nuclear power expands, it will become increasingly ineffective at combating global warming, warns a report by an independent think tank published today.

The Oxford Research Group argues that a worldwide shortage of high-grade uranium ore will force new nuclear reactors to exploit increasingly lower-grade ores for their fuel. Because that requires more energy to extract, the process will result in ever-greater amounts of climate-wrecking pollution.