Grist List
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Critical List: Senate voted against Keystone XL; CSA delivery by sailboat
The Senate voted against approving Keystone XL. Japan has almost shut down its nuclear industry; next month only one out of 54 reactors will be working. Those affected by the BP oil spill could get 60 percent of the settlement money they’re owed as soon as a new program to pay out claims is set […]
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Iceland plans to turn excess carbon into stone
Instead of smokestacks belching carbon into the air, plants and factories in Iceland may soon have well injectors to push the greenhouse gases underground. You might think this would inflate the Earth like a balloon and lift it out of orbit (okay, you probably don’t think that, but it’s a good image). But in fact, […]
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Mercury-loaded cosmetics target minority communities
Beauty may only be skin deep, but the damage from cosmetics reaches way down into the kidneys, brains, and other organs — at least, it does if those cosmetics contain mercury, as several brands do, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). What’s even worse is that these mercury-loaded cosmetics are targeted specifically towards […]
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Delicious, edible food packaging could curb plastic waste
If you want to know why the earth and waterways are quickly morphing into giant garbage heaps, look no further than your pudding cup. Desserts, sodas, yogurts, and every other processed treat that comes tucked inside a plastic container are creating a slew of plastic pollution. But Harvard scientist David Edwards has an innovative — and […]
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Watch today’s solar flare erupt from the sun
Two solar flares burst out of the sun on March 6. NASA notes: “One of the most dramatic features is the way the entire surface of the sun seems to ripple with the force of the eruption.” Badass! The first flare was the second largest of this solar cycle (which started in 2009), and it’s […]
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Oh my god, now there’s a live polar bear cam??
Apologies to anyone who thought they were ever going to get anything accomplished ever again.
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In 2014, corn biofuel is out, wood biofuel is in
Biofuel sounds like a pretty good idea — down with power plants, up with regular plants! — but if the country switches over to corn ethanol we will basically be unable to grow any other crops. A new study has calculated that corn destined for ethanol production would have to take over 80 percent of […]
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Map shows what a U.S. Fukushima could have looked like
With the one-year anniversary of the Fukushima reactor crisis approaching, the Natural Resources Defense Council has put together a mapping tool that lets you envision what could have happened if one of the 104 U.S. reactors had suffered a similar accident. The take-home message: If you live on the East Coast, you’re practically guaranteed to […]
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Critical List: Solar storm to hit today; the U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum products
Solar storm a-comin’! Batten down the planet! Seriously, it’s today and it’s supposed to be the strongest in six years, which is confusing because the one two months ago was supposed to be the strongest in seven years and how does THAT work? Anyway, it could “disrupt power grids, satellites, oil pipelines, and high-accuracy GPS […]
