Grist List
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Critical List: The shortest day of the year; some grey wolves to come off endangered species list
Today marks the solstice: the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter. Things will only get better from here on out, as long as by “things” you mean “the amount of daylight available in the Northern hemisphere.” Grey wolves in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin will be taken off the endangered species list. […]
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The world’s first solar menorah
Chanukah is all about fuel efficiency, so it seems appropriate that the town of Woodstock, N.Y., now has a solar-powered menorah. The menorah, one of the big electrical kinds that progressive towns put up next to their Christmas trees in order to be inclusive, has always spent the holiday season standing around unlit, because there's […]
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Maine bans LEED in state buildings at timber industry’s behest
The pristine wilderness of Maine would make anyone feel more in touch with the environment … unless you're a politician and vested interests with tons of money put pressure on you to undermine green programs like LEED and you cave. That's the short version of what happened earlier this month. For a while, Maine was […]
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There’s never been a better time to build a hobbit house
If you're anything like me, i.e. friends with dozens of nerds, your Twitter stream was aflame with talk of the Hobbit trailer last night. I'm psyched about it! It's the only Tolkien book I read, and will therefore probably be the only one of the movies I can stay awake through. Anyway, hobbits are cool […]
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Cops mock Seattle jogger nearly killed by a truck
In Seattle, a semi truck hit a jogger, nearly killing him. While the jogger lay almost dying, the police officers who responded to the accident were busy sneering at his decision not to drive a car. This being 2011, their comments were caught on video. Here's the most relevant excerpt, from the local TV station […]
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Critical List: E.U. court OKs airline carbon emission scheme; climate change kills frankincense
The E.U.'s version of the Supreme Court decided that it's totally cool for the E.U. to require flights originating elsewhere to participate in its carbon-emissions trading plans. Later today, the EPA will announce new regulations for power plants that limit mercury and other emissions. Climate change: also killing Christmas. Okay, just the production of frankincense, […]
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The Royal Family goes hydroelectric
It's not easy greening the Queen. Several attempts to set up alternative energy sources for Windsor Castle have failed due to lack of funding. But today a British company is completing the installation of a $2.7 million hydroelectric installation that will power the royal residence plus 300 homes. The Telegraph reports that "the Queen was […]
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Ryan Gosling believes in treating chicks right
It may be time for a Chicken-Loving Ryan Gosling Tumblr — "Hey girl, I just wanted to know how you like your eggs in the morning, because I like mine organic and cage-free." Perhaps because his name gives him an affinity with all fowl, but more likely because he is a decent and animal-loving person, […]
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Don’t call the Antarctic ice shelf; it’ll call you
Back when I was in middle school, the internet was still something of a novelty, but we did have email. So when I was assigned a report on Antarctica, my mom dug up the email address of a real, live scientist living at the research station there. We emailed him a few report-related questions, and […]
