Grist List
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Watch a time-lapse image of 2011’s crazy weather
Sure, we all know 2011's weather was bananapants, but just how banana WERE those pants? The Natural Resources Defense Council has put together an interactive map showing all the record weather events from the last year. The map shows record snowfalls, record rainfalls, record high and low temperatures, and the affected range from disastrous events […]
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Tighter efficiency standards may lead to bigger, more ironic vehicles
The idea behind fuel efficiency standards, nominally, is to end up with more efficient cars. But according to a new study from the University of Michigan, what they actually do is create a financial incentive for bigger cars — because bigger cars don't have to be as efficient. Fuel economy goals are stated as an average […]
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Funniest thing in months: Conan O’Brien’s parody of Ron Paul’s campaign video
[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011875&w=425&h=350&fv=] Ron Paul made a campaign video that borders on self-parody, and if you haven’t seen it, do yourself the favor of watching it immediately. Keep in mind when you do that the budget cuts Paul is touting will come in part from eliminating the EPA (in addition to basically every other damn thing). […]
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Polar bears may be driven to cannibalism by climate change
If you watch nature shows, you know that male bears see cubs as tasty little McNuggets with fur, so it's not like one bear eating another is a big deal. Except that in the Arctic, polar bears are increasingly deprived of the sea ice they rely on to access seals and other tasty mammalian treats. […]
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Coming soon: Street View-style maps of the country’s endangered rivers
Internet time-wasters, start your engines. A nonprofit called Below the Surface is gearing up to map 27 of the country's most endangered rivers using the same technology that gave the world Google Street View. That means 360-degree shots of beautiful, polluted, shrinking, over-tapped waterways for the world to click on (and, hopefully, get fired up […]
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Critical List: Same old U.S. and China at COP talks; Warren Buffett’s solar farm
At the COP talks, the United States is driving all the other countries crazy. The U.S. response: "What, us?" China's conditions for a climate deal include the demand that it and other growing economies would have to meet different standards than rich countries. So, essentially, nothing has changed. Warren Buffett's buying Topaz Solar Farm, a […]
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Study: The climate is changing faster than species can adapt
Whatever the Republican candidates for president may have told you, climate change and evolution are both realities of nature. But it turns out that in a fight-to-the-death throwdown, climate change would win by a mile. A new study published in the journal PLoS One has found that over the next 90 years, the climate in […]
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‘Organic water’ is a thing now
A German brand of bottled water called BioKristall has gotten the official go-ahead to market itself as organic water. That's right, not a single pesticide was used to keep away the insects that feed on water crops, and it didn't need any chemical fertilizer either. Thank goodness SOMEBODY cares about our health. Okay, now all […]
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Samsung’s new Zombocalypse-proof appliances
Samsung's new line of energy-efficient, even solar-powered appliances that are robust in the face of power fluctuations and outages were built for Africa (that’s why they’re called “Built for Africa”), but they have “catastrophist stocking stuffer” written all over them. And Samsung knows it — how else can we explain their promo shots? This girl […]
