Grist List

Biggest output of U.S. oil and gas industry is dirty water

The bad news: “Every day, U.S. oil and gas producers bring to the surface 60 million barrels of waste water, with a salt content up to 20 times higher than sea water and laced with hazardous chemicals,” reports John Kemp of Reuters. In an aging well, as much as 98 percent of the stuff that […]

Christopher Mims Energy

Pop-up Starbucks made of shipping containers

Recycling shipping containers into houses and environmental centers has been the new architectural hotness for a while, but what good are houses and environmental centers when you can’t get coffee? This four-carton Starbucks near Seattle (go fig) offers a recycled alternative to your strip-mall Starbucks.

Jess Zimmerman Culture

Clean energy policies create more jobs than Keystone

Obama is poised to reject Keystone XL this afternoon, so brace for a lot of Republican bellyaching about how he obviously doesn’t care about jobs. There is a problem with this line of argument, and it’s that it is nonsense. Don’t believe us? Check out this graph, from ThinkProgress, which shows how Obama administration policies […]

Sarah Laskow Economics

Obama will reject Keystone XL

Politico is reporting that Obama is planning to reject the Keystone XL pipeline this afternoon. Here's a quick roundup of some reasons why that's awesome.

Jess Zimmerman Energy

An inhabited apartment inside a subway station

Ad agency Ubi Bene built an apartment for five roommates in the middle of a Paris Metro station.

Jess Zimmerman Culture

Almost all U.S. car use is within an electric car’s range

Because it takes longer to fill up an electric vehicle than to fill a gas tank, and because EV infrastructure is still limited, the most common criticism of EVs goes something like “OMG RANGE ANXIETY.” And, sure, no one wants to get stuck in their big metal bucket on the side of a highway until […]

Sarah Laskow Buildings

Critical List: Military could produce 7 GW of solar; British survey hedgehogs

Solar projects at desert military bases could produce 7,000 megawatts of solar energy — a huge amount. EVs have more than enough range to make 95 percent of the trips we take by car. Scotland aims to source 100 percent of its power from renewables by 2020, but to reach that goal, it needs the […]

Sarah Laskow Science

The hagfish defeats its predators with slime

This video from National Geographic will make any self-respecting maritime predator think twice before attacking a hagfish, an eel-like creature that secretes slime from its pores. Also, fair warning, you may not want to watch this with food in your mouth. (Click the image below to watch the video on the NatGeo site.)