Grist List
-
![]()
![]()
Fukushima raised to Level 7 nuclear disaster — how much should you panic?
The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has leveled up to a 7, or “major accident,” topping out the International Nuclear and Radiation Event scale. That puts it in the same category as Chernobyl, the only other level 7 event in history. Does this mean it's time for us all to put on our […]
-
![]()
![]()
Google goes all in on solar — to the tune of $168 million
Google has saved you from getting lost, running out of email storage space, and not knowing trivial facts about 90s TV shows. And now it’s going to help save you from a dystopian Mad Max future by investing in solar energy. The company just bet $168 million on solar tech, in the form of the […]
-
![]()
![]()
Climate change kills our buzz, and vice versa
Grist’s offices are in Seattle, so we take this one really seriously: Climate change is threatening Costa Rica’s coffee crops. Coffee’s a fussy little plant, and it can’t handle extreme temperatures, so yields are going way down as temperature inches up. And if you think that’s a buzzkill, try this: An independent study by a […]
-
![]()
![]()
FedEx’s Republican CEO wants you to buy an electric car [VIDEO]
Clean energy: not a partisan issue, says FedEx's CEO. That's why he commissioned this slick little promo, which sums up everything that's wrong with our current transportation infrastructure but stops just short of mentioning peak oil. That's OK, because the facts speak for themselves: The U.S. uses a quarter of the world's oil. Seventy percent […]
-
![]()
![]()
The rallying anthem for the new green movement: Let’s all unf*ck it up!
Okay, maybe we're a little late on this one, but seriously: If you saw it already and you don't want to see it again, GET OUT because it is amazing. Everyone else, take a listen — NOT AT WORK, it is chock-full of swears. Clap your hands! Sing along! Help unf*ck it up! I'm going […]
-
![]()
![]()
Paris to be powered by body odor
Okay, not quite. But the City of Lights is fast becoming the City of Innovative but Slightly Bizarre Energy Solutions, including new ways to harness the heat you might otherwise not want to touch. Sewer water: French children are probably too classy to be delighted by this the way American children would be, but last […]
-
![]()
![]()
Susan Sarandon explains mountaintop-removal mining in 60 seconds [VIDEO]
If most of us have a notion of mountaintop-removal mining, it's that somewhere in Appalachia a bunch of extras from Winter's Bone are getting their view spoiled by some trucks and TNT. But these are real people, and the environmental catastrophe they're experiencing — entire counties turned into flattened moonscapes like you'd expect after a […]
-
Japan cannot catch a break
Did Japan do something to anger the universe? (Don’t answer that, Jerry Falwell.) After a massive offshore quake, a devastating tsunami, and a nuclear crisis, the beleaguered country is now being treated to aftershocks that would make most quakes feel silly. As for the nuclear status … who knows? It probably isn’t good. Aftershocks ruin […]
-
![]()
![]()
Natural gas from fracking is worse for climate than coal, says new study
Photo: Erland HowdenNatural gas obtained through "fracking" — the increasingly common process of splitting open underground deposits with high pressure chemicals — now has an even bigger strike against it than its potential to contaminate regional water supplies. Fracking, it turns out, yields more global warming per unit of energy than coal — at least […]
