Grist List

Environmentalist was barred from U.S. because FBI feared he'd glue himself to Palin

Last week, the U.K.'s "most effective environmentalist," John-with-an-H Stewart, had his entry visa revoked mid-flight when he tried to visit the U.S. for a speaking tour. All we knew for sure was that customs officials had grilled him for six hours about his plans for his visit, then sent him back to Britain with nary a pat on the rump. But Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones has uncovered the real reason Stewart was barred from the country: Super-glue.

Detroit everyman uses DIY moxie to turn his town into a solar mecca

Dave Strenski, resident of Detroit exurb Ypsilanti, got it into his head that he would help the local food co-op reduce its bills by installing solar panels on its roof. And he didn't let his complete lack of experience with solar stand in the way. At this point, he's not only put solar on the […]

Koch Industries stands to profit off Keystone XL

Every step the Obama administration takes towards approving the Keystone XL pipeline means a step towards putting more money into the pockets of Koch Industries. Although the company has denied having an interest in the pipeline (it has "nothing to do with any of our businesses," company reps have told Rep. Henry Waxman's staff), Inside Climate News has uncovered documents proving that a Koch Industries subsidiary has a business interest in the approval of the pipeline.

Critical List: Enviro groups sue over Keystone XL; Energy Dept. considered second Solyndra loan

The Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Inc., and Western Nebraska Resources Council sued the U.S. for starting work preemptively on the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Department of Energy thought (but not that hard! Really!) about giving Solyndra an additional $469 million loan.

The mystery of why the FBI kept British environmentalist John Stewart from entering the country: Explained. Apparently the bureau was concerned he would super-glue himself to Sarah Palin.

Plane flies 200 miles in two hours on just electricity

Pipistrel-USA's Taurus G4 won the NASA's CAFE Green Flight Challenge (top prize $1.35 million!) by flying 200 miles in under two hours, using an amount of electricity equivalent to less than two gallons of gas. Google sponsored the competition, which is supposed to stimulate the “electric plane industry.” Who even knew there was an electric […]

If you want a green building, make it out of wood

The third little pig might have staved off disaster, but the second little pig was the greenest, according to the USDA. The agency looked at dozens of studies comparing wood to concrete and steel and declared wood the winner when it comes to emissions. Attempts to use materials other than wood in construction yield, on average, 2.1 tons more greenhouse gases per ton of material. 

The most beautiful anti-GMO T-shirts you'll ever see

Threadless, which has long been the thinking person's purveyor of silly T-shirts, just ran a design contest with an anti-GMO theme. Artists submitted designs that conveyed a "no GMO" message, and 25 percent of profit from sales of the winning design will go to the Institute for Responsible Technology, which fights GMOs in the United States.

Australia is so, so screwed

It's possible that the 19th century British powers-that-be were just running a really, really long con when they sent their convicts to settle Australia, because anyone who lives there now is royally screwed. In Rolling Stone, Jeff Goodell chronicles exactly how screwed. (Answer: Royally.)

In the few weeks he was there, Goodell encountered:

a record heat wave, a crippling drought, bush fires, floods that swamped an area the size of France and Germany combined, even a plague of locusts.

And in the longer term,

What water is left is becoming increasingly salty and unusable, raising the question of whether Australia, long a major food exporter, will be able to feed itself in the coming dec­ades. The oceans are getting warmer and more acidic, leading to the all-but-certain death of the Great Barrier Reef within 40 years. Homes along the Gold Coast are being swept away, koala bears face extinction in the wild, and farmers, their crops shriveled by drought, are shooting themselves in despair.

Can you raise chickens in a one-bedroom apartment?

Well, it's not a good idea, but you can, according to the New York Daily News. They've got a story about Robert McMinn and Jules Corkery, who are raising three hens in their one bedroom in Queens.