Grist List
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Thanks to Ringo Starr, Chevron won’t be forking over $18B to Ecuadoran Indians
Photo: Rainforest Action Network At least for now, Chevron doesn’t owe Ecuadoran villagers $18 billion for completely ruining their jungle with oil, a U.S. district court judge has ruled. That’s a reversal of a decision made last month by a court in Ecuador — but Judge Lewis Kaplan figures he has just as much say […]
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‘Slugging’ lets commuters hitchhike to work without ass, gas, or grass
Photo: BankbryanFor the last 30-plus years, commuters in the D.C. area have been commuting to and from work via modified hitchhiking. Commuters wait in “slug lines” for a driver who’s going their way — it’s a little like catching a SuperShuttle at the airport. These spontaneous carpools are beneficial for the drivers, who get to […]
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Biodegradable shoes go from footwear to fertilizer
Photo: OAT ShoesAre your shoes on their last legs? If they were OAT shoes (which they aren’t, because you can’t buy them in the States yet), you’d be able to just shuck ’em off and bury them in the yard. Kicks from this new line biodegrade completely, a neat trick that just netted them an […]
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Pacific Northwest sends coal a Dear John letter
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Arial; color: #1f0199} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #1f0199} span.s2 {text-decoration: underline} span.s3 {color: #000000} Dear Coal, We’ve been together a long, long time, but I’m sorry, I’m leaving you for another. Don’t try to argue: like it or […]
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Why climate change is now irrelevant to clean energy
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Arial} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #1f0199} Clean energy isn’t about climate change any more, it’s about China. So says cleantech investor Alex Taussig. That’s his takeaway from last week’s summit of ARPA-E, the government agency tasked with funding energy innovations so crazy or with such far-off payouts […]
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Farming is the new hipster occupation of choice
Twentysomethings don’t know what to do with their lives. Industrial food can’t be trusted. The public image of farmers is (slowly) improving — but the average age is going up and up. These are perfect conditions for a new generation of farmers, people in their 20s and 30s who are starting small farms and joining […]
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Politics aside, you really DO want to move to Canada
Get used to this image.Photo: Anka KayPoliteness, Kate Beaton, and relative social progressivism are just gravy on the poutine of Canada’s superiority. Here’s the fries and curds: As global warming worsens, Canada may become the world’s wealthiest country. A short list of areas outside of “moose density” where Canada’s primed to dominate: Food security. New […]
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China’s scrap metal workers are human recycling machines
A worker at a motor scrap recycling plantPhoto: Adam Minter Cheap, un-unionized, un-regulated labor helps the environment in the U.S. and China, argues Adam Minter, a journalist who has been chronicling the “engine breakers” of Shanghai. China’s human-powered recycling plants break down and sift through junked cars and other scrap metal, searching for valuable reusable […]
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House GOP may actually be trying to poison us
Photo: Lance RobotsonAll right, now we’re starting to get suspicious. The GOP isn’t just trying to decimate the EPA’s ability to protect our air and water from toxins — they’re also defunding poison control centers. What the … is this a Dorothy Sayers novel? Are the Republican reps fabricating a will and then bumping us […]
