Grist List

Google's plan for cleantech world dominance says government policy is essential

Google set out to discover the effects of technological breakthroughs, and in the process discovered that strong government policies are key to accelerating their penetration into the market. Radical new battery technology and solar panels are great, but regular consumers don’t pick them up unless they're nudged in the right direction. In other words, the internet’s most successful capitalists say that the free market is all well and good, but we really need government regulation.

Pawlenty: 'Look at me! I don't believe in science either!'

Hey, remember Tim Pawlenty? I think he's running for state auditor or something.

Pawlenty used to think climate change was a major priority, back when he was governor of Minnesota and supported cap-and-trade. But then Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman showed underbelly by admitting that they believe in science -- a striking liability in this race -- and Pawlenty took that opportunity to swoop in and firmly establish himself as the most anti-climate-science candidate besides Bachmann and Perry and all the other ones! Go get 'em, T-Paw.

GM working on sexy new all-electric car for every country except U.S.

Germany, Korea, China, and now India are all venues for U.S. carmaking giant General Motors’ new all-electric hotness, the Chevrolet Beat.

BPA makes male mice into mincing little nancymice

In the patriarchy (that's Women's Studies for "dicktopia") we live in, there is pretty much no worse fate than wussification. So in a way, we're glad to hear that Bisphenol A, an organic compound found in a lot of plastics, makes male mice act less masculine. Maybe this will induce Girl Panic in some of the straight dudes who run things, and we can finally get the stuff taken out of our baby bottles, plastic packaging, and cans. 

Critical List: Global warming — it's happening; Exxon funds climate deniers

In case you hadn’t heard … the world is warming up.

Exxon just can't quit climate deniers.

The Supreme Court thinks that the EPA must regulate carbon under the Clean Air Act; now it will decide if it can regulate wetlands on private property under the Clean Water Act.

Awesome idea: Bike repair vending machine

Did you get a flat, forget your snacks, or break a light while tooling down the Greenway in bike-friendly Minneapolis? No worries -- just stop by the Bike Fixtation, a one-stop bike-shopping outpost. You can buy a patch kit or some trail mix from the vending machine, pump up your tires with the air pump, and do minor repairs on the work stand. 

Bill McKibben: Blame Canada!

Bill McKibben has it in for Canada. In a new article in The New Republic, he calls it "one of the earth's most irresponsible nations," admonishes liberals that they need to find a new country to dream of emigrating to, and stops just short of calling Canadians (and Americans, but what else is new) giant hypocrites.

What's pissing McKibben off? Tar sands, of course.

Will wind power blow the Earth out of orbit?

YES. YES IT WILL.

U.S. politicians' campaign of terror against climate scientists

U.S. politicians aren't just denying that climate change is happening, they're actively using their position and power to try to intimidate climate scientists into keeping silent on the subject, says Raymond S. Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.