Take Care, TCE

Top scientists call on EPA to crack down on drinking-water pollutant The solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) — the most common industrial...

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?...

Sinks a lot?

A quick vacation to Washington's Olympic Peninsula reminded me of two things. First -- dang, those trees are huge!

And second -- dang, there's a lot of clearcut coastal forestland that's still just basically sitting there: no trees, just scrub and piles of decaying stumps.

Which got me to thinking: How much CO2 could the clearcut land store if returned to its full rainforest glory? Enough to take a serious bite out of our climate-warming emissions?

Readers talk back about Wal-Mart, vegetarian jokes, hope for the future, and more

  Re: The Writing on the Wal-Mart Dear Editor: First let me say, I love Grist and appreciate the work...

Do monopolies undermine the environment?

For many skeptics of the environmental benefits of market economies, the fear of monopoly control over natural resources is one of their greatest concerns. The reality is actually much more complicated; here's why.

Wildfires are raging — why isn’t concern about climate change?

Earlier this month, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert delivered a provocative Los Angeles Times op-ed explaining why the public is more...

Sprawl bribery is beating smart growth

The following is a guest essay from Joel S. Hirschhorn, author of Sprawl Kills: How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money. He can be reached through sprawlkills.com.

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When the small town of Warrenton in sprawl-rich northern Virginia received an offer of $22 million in cash from Centex Homes, one of the nation's largest developers and home builders, one reaction of concerned parties was, OK, sounds like an environmentally acceptable plan for nearly 300 new homes. But closer examination reveals a development plan that comes nowhere near meeting smart-growth values. It also illustrates the tactics of large sprawl developers as they face opposition from those concerned about uncontrolled growth gobbling up rural America. Sprawl bribery is just another dimension of sprawl politics: using money to buy off government officials. And using just one aspect of good smart growth design -- clustering of homes -- creates the illusion of environmental benefit.

Subsidize this!

In a recent post on the four shifts in public policy that would have the greatest positive impact on the environment, number one was the elimination of natural resource subsidies. Every year, when I cover these subsidies in my environmental economics class, it amazes me that societies around the world continue to tolerate such vast abuses and wastes of money. They do so primarily because most people don't know about them (to educate yourself check here [PDF] and here), which is why I have decided to begin a campaign to lobby for their elimination.

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard chats about the band’s environmental ethos

Pearl Jam. Photo: Danny Clinch.  Stone Gossard, hard-rock guitarist and founding member of Pearl Jam, has a soft spot for...