Grist List

Sandstorms of coal ash blanket Moapa River reservation

The Moapa River Indian Reservation is right next to the Reid Gardner Power Station and its coal ash storage ponds. Winds blow the coal ash -- a waste product that contains arsenic, lead, and mercury -- over the reservation. Residents stay indoors, because it's a like a sandstorm and they can taste the ash in their months. Even so, they have health issues like asthma and thyroid dysfunction, conditions that have been linked to coal ash.

Critical List: Hurricane Irene headed for East Coast; EPA totally creates jobs

East Coasters may not know what do in an earthquake, but a hurricane's coming, too. That, we know about.

The Obama administration is looking into "leasing" nuclear fuel from other countries, which would let American plants use the uranium, then return it for disposal once the fuel is spent. It’s like a bottle-return program, but with much higher stakes.

Chinese consumers want cars, not those namby pamby EVs. 

Photo of devastation from the East Coast earthquake

(Via here, via here, ultimately via here.) Yep, we had a 5.9 magnitude earthquake over here! (Update: Boo, those buzzkills at USGS downgraded it back to 5.8.) It's probably Ragnarok. Or maybe planet Earth is still trying to tell us to piss off.

Northeast Corridor is getting better rail

Apparently you gotta have rail to make rail. The Northeast Corridor, the one area of the country with high-speed rail service (Acela) and the only part where Amtrak's not just borrowing the tracks from freight companies, is getting $745 million from the Department of Transportation for rail upgrades. 

Does this wind turbine make McDonald's ass look green?

If you saw this on top of your local McDonald's, would it make you more likely to pull over for a burger and fries? I have to admit that it would work on me.

People don't care about climate impacts in other countries

Messages about the urgency of climate change that depict harms to people in other countries, or even just other parts of the same country, often backfire, says a new study.

Do your clothes contain toxic chemicals?

Chemicals in clothing can break down in water into hormone-disrupting nonylphenol (click the infographic to embiggen). If you want to avoid dumping this crap in the waterways, you have two choices: One, never wash your clothing -- which, on top of being gross, will probably not be that effective, since wastewater discharges from textile plants sluiced nonylphenol out into the waterways before your clothes even hit the store. Or two, opt for clothing from companies that don't use nonylphenol-producing chemicals (called nonylphenol ethoxylates, or NPEs). According to research from Greenpeace, though, that might be tough. Of the 15 brands they tested for NPEs, only Gap had zero positive results.

How to save 20,000 oiled penguins

Dyan deNapoli (who apparently goes by the moniker "The Penguin Lady," which is awesome) was very, very put out by a suggestion during the Gulf Coast oil spill that oiled birds should be killed because they're going to die anyway.

Leave a love note for a sexy bike

Ever see a bike on the street that had your heart going pitter-patter? Sarah Raz, of the Adventure Cycling Association, knows where you’re coming from: "I can't even tell you how many times I've seen a beauty of a bike, hand built or all vintage, parked near the post office or my grocery store, and I've just had to leave a love note," she writes.

But there's a quick fix for this uncontrollable urge!