Grist List
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High-speed rail that never was: 1910 proposal for S.F. to L.A. in four hours
If you think high-speed rail is some kind of newfangled obsession of liberal elites who would rather not sit in traffic behind SUVs covered in bumper stickers announcing loyalty to their ideological foes, you're only partly right. As early as 1910, inventor Fletcher E. Felts proposed an elevated, high speed railway system to connect Oakland […]
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Tidal power is now a legit source of renewable energy
Tidal power, produced from the force of our planet's oceans sloshing to and fro, has always seemed like a neat idea. But the challenges of making it work — imagine giant underwater propellers having to withstand strong currents and the unending assault of the sea — made it seem less than realistic. But now manufacturing […]
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‘Waterless fracking’ is a new way to make fracking less nasty
The "natural gas revolution" has been kind of a disappointment. Yes, natural gas could help get us off of coal, and fast. But it has its own substantial environmental impacts, most of them stemming from the process of extracting it from the ground. Now, though, a new "waterless" fracking method holds out the promise of […]
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Bill McKibben talks Keystone XL on Colbert
Stephen Colbert can't decide what Bill McKibben's car runs on — broken dreams or hypocrisy — but he's trying hard to get McKibben to abandon it in favor of the Keystone XL bandwagon. No such luck — McKibben sets him straight on how many net jobs the project would create, and how much damage it […]
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Thailand’s DIY climate adaptation solutions
It's more likely than not at this point that climate change will substantially alter the world we live in, and humans will have to adapt. Climate adaption plans usually invoke big ideas, like sea walls and dykes and drought-resistant crops. But the response to the floods (likely due to climate change) that have devastated Thailand […]
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This is the funniest video about repurposing you’ll ever see
What if you have metal can, and you don't want to make a throw away of it and then everyone is sad because you make a litterbug? Flula has ideas! He also has ideas for repurposing shirts, pants, monkeys, milk jugs, and branches. (You cannot make a car from branches, but you can make a […]
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Tattoos are decidedly NOT vegan
There are two important principles of veganism that most people don't understand. More food is vegan than is immediately obvious. But more seemingly innocuous products have animals parts in them than the average meat-eater imagines. Case in point: tattoos. As Tim Donnelly writes at The Atlantic, "The ink and processes at your average shop contain […]
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‘Solar forests’ charge your car while looking awesome
If electric cars are really going to compete with the gas-guzzling kind, we're going to need new infrastructure — mainly charging stations so people can juice up when they're on a road trip. And if you have to dot the country with new charging structures, doesn't it make sense to make them awesome-looking? The "solar […]
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Critical List: TransCanada says Keystone XL will be rerouted; Bloomberg evicts #OWS
TransCanada officials announced last night that the company would re-route the Keystone XL pipeline away from environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska. “I can confirm the route will be changed and Nebraskans will play an important role in determining the final route," an executive said in a statement. House Republicans are working on a bill that […]
