Grist List
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Deadliest E. coli outbreak ever
The E. coli outbreak in Europe has sickened more than 1,800 people, according the World Health Organization. But that's just cases drawn from hospital records. More people could be sick. And 18 have died, making this the deadliest recorded E. coli outbreak. If that's not unnerving enough, only two antibiotics have a real chance at […]
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Watch a ridiculously adorable kid encourage the world to ride a bike
This kid just learned to ride a bike, and it made him feel happy of himself! You can do it too! He knows you can believe in yourself!
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Critical List: EPA gives chemical industry a pass; Rolls-Royce owners snubs EVs
The EPA could ask chemical companies to report on Americans' exposure to their products, but it's not. "Where's there's coal, there's opportunity": The energy industry funds brainwashing — sorry, "education" — for students. The Grand Calumet river ferries about 200,000 cubic yards of toxic crap into Lake Michigan each year. The federal government is cleaning […]
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Starry-eyed U.N. chief says we need to limit climate change to 2.7F of warming, not 3.6F
This week in the annals of wishful thinking, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change declared that the world's nations — you know, the ones with the record carbon emissions last year — should commit themselves to warming of no more than 2.7 degrees F, not the previously agreed-upon 3.6 degrees […]
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Bill Clinton: Go for the low-hanging fruit
Bill Clinton urged mayors at the Large Cities Climate Summit to go after a pollutant 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide: methane. By capturing it from landfills, from which it leaches in prodigious amounts, cities could use it to generate power. Wrestling CO2 could take years, but harnessing methane could make a big difference […]
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Oops: Germany’s nuclear shutdown will cause 100s of million of tons of CO2 emissions
Riding a wave of anti-nuclear sentiment in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster, the German government has decided to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2022. That’ll certainly prevent nuclear meltdowns. On the flip side, though, analyses by experts suggest that eliminating those plants will lead to a short-term increase in coal burning, resulting […]
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MyConservationPark is a Facebook game that’s actually good for something
MyConservationPark is a Farmville-style Facebook game that lets you administer a nature preserve, juggling animals, plants, structures, and people to protect the habitat of endangered wildlife. But this isn't just a whole new way to annoy your Facebook friends with environmentalism; it also makes a difference in the real world. Fifteen percent of any in-game […]
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Introducing your new food pyramid
Here's the USDA's new food guidelines, in an appropriate graphical form: the plate chart. (A pie chart would have too much refined sugar.) It lacks the mystical and ancient appeal of the food pyramid, but is perhaps more relevant to your daily food-eating life. (But is it kosher or something? Why is the dairy on […]
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The frogfish is the world’s most efficient invasivore
It's still hot to be an invasivore, chowing down on invasive species to help balance the ecosystem. Cleveland even had a food festival showcasing ways to prepare the delicious-sounding invasive plant garlic mustard. (This is going out on a limb, but … maybe use it as a condiment?) But the lionfish is a particularly pesky […]
