Grist List

Is this the most anti-environment House of Representatives ever?

At the end of last week, the House voted to let states deal with coal ash, a toxic byproduct of mining, the same way they deal with municipal garbage. The Associated Press called this:

the latest [vote] of several passed by the Republican-controlled House that would shift authority from the Environmental Protection Agency and reduce regulations Republicans say are burdensome, hamper economic growth and cost jobs.

That doesn't even begin to do justice to the attacks that Congress has mounted on the environment and the people who live in it (oh, hey, that's us!). Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman's Energy and Commerce committee has counted 168 votes that the House has taken so far this Congress that "undermine the protection of the environment."

Giant Bicycles strikes back at stupid GM ad

GM's ad about how embarrassing it is to ride a bike? Dumb. Giant Bicycles' parody response? Classy! Also pretty amusing.

Republican candidate Herman Cain has extensive Koch ties

The Koch brothers are everywhere, and it turns out that Herman Cain, the current Republican front-runner with the simple 9-9-9 tax plan, has been extensively wrapped in the slimy arms of the Kochtopus.

Cain's 9-9-9 plan, for instance, didn't come from Sim City (not directly at least). Instead, a businessman who served on the board of the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity helped him come up with it. Cain’s campaign manager and members of his staff have also worked for AFP in the past. His campaign's law firm is representing AFP in an unrelated matter.

The world's first vertical forest is under construction in Milan

We've pretty much established that trees are awesome -- they make you smart, improve your home's value, filter pollution, provide shade, and produce oxygen. But even in a city that prioritizes green spaces, surface area is at a premium. How do you provide enough trees while still living densely? Milan, Italy, has a creative answer: a forest in the form of a skyscraper.

Radioactive fallout detected in Tokyo

Radiation has a sneaky way of spreading, and in Tokyo, citizens have identified 20 sites contaminated by radioactive cesium from the Fukushima meltdown.

The government wasn't planning on testing in Tokyo, but citizens and a nuclear research center started their own investigation and came up with positive results.

Climate change is making plants and insects shrink

Here's a novel weight loss tip: Live on a planet whose global warming trend is so severe that you need to shrink in order to adapt. Oh, and it helps to be an insect, spider, plant, or marine creature. (Or a sheep. Evidently we already knew sheep were shrinking.) If you can manage that, you could be on your way to losing up to 22 percent of your body size, just from climate change!

Target is switching to sustainable seafood

Target is the latest chain to pledge to phase unsustainable seafood out of its stores. The company has already rid its shelves of orange roughy, farmed salmon, and Chilean sea bass, and plans to switch entirely to sustainable fresh and frozen fish by 2015.

What happens when a whale dies?

What happens when a whale dies? Little ocean beasties get a feast, as illustrated in this video, the most beautiful and least icky illustration of decomposition you may ever see.

Critical List: Climate change is shrinking animals; Mexico could export water to the U.S.

Climate change is shrinking animals, like sheep and salamanders, and fruits too.

Mexico could start exporting water into the United States.

One partner in the Macondo well is ponying up $4 billion to settle with BP over last year's oil spill.