In honor of the 38th Earth Day, we hereby present the Second Ever List of Grist Superlatives -- our take on the good, the bad, and the weird of the past year. What did we miss? Add your own superlatives in comments below.
Most thoroughly debunked premise: "The Death of Environmentalism"
Amusingest photo op: President Bush in a white lab coat, squinting vacantly at a vial of biofuel-bound liquid
Most overused headline gimmick: any variant of "inconvenient" or "truth" (just stop it!)
Dick Pombo.
Goodest riddance: Richard "Dick" Pombo
Second-goodest riddance: Conrad Burns
Refreshingest return from the dead: congressional oversight
Greenest mayor: Rocky Anderson
Driest report we actually read: IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report
Slogan most likely to sweep the nation: "Coal is the enemy of the human race."
Company we least expected to beg for carbon caps: ConocoPhillips
Adorablest new eco-heroes: the fourth-grade class at Park School in Massachusetts
Knut.
Photo: Berlin Zoo
Tie: Knut
Hottest conservative: David Cameron
Hottest Canadian: Stephane Dion
Longest-running federal boneheadedness: Interior Department's failure to collect royalties from oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
Hottest peak: peak oil peak coal peak soil peak chances in hell
Biggest beneficiary of the corn ethanol boom: Archer Daniels Midland
Second biggest: politicians in need of something green-sounding to say
Third: nope, just the two
Least likely climate champion: U.S. Supreme Court
Worst substitute for reducing carbon emissions: reducing "carbon intensity"
Hippest, happeningest shindig: Grist's San Francisco reader party
Awkwardest incorporation of eco-theme into a sitcom: My Name Is Earl's "Robbed a Stoner Blind" episode
Going ... going ...
Photo: iStockphtoto
Depressingest study in Science: seafood to be wiped out by mid-century
Second depressingest: Greenland melting fast
Third depressingest: Melting Siberian permafrost packed with CO2
Weakest attempt by Science to cheer us back up: Land corridors encourage biodiversity
Sexiest congressional clean-energy champion: Jay Inslee
Curmudgeonliest: Bernie Sanders
Most aptly named: Barbara Boxer
Most unexpected: Ted Stevens
Most improved: John Dingell
Taz, we hardly knew ye.
Saddest potential species extinction: Tasmanian devil
Happiest: climate-change skeptics
Hottest concert ticket on earth: Live Earth Antarctica
Eco-issue most likely to be declared "the new black" this coming year: placemaking
Least effective spokesperson for global-warming activism: John Travolta
Most effective: God
Least original glossy magazine idea: the green issue
Ironicalest oversight for a green issue: printing on non-recycled paper
Greenest nudie model: Keeley Hazell
Or was that nudest greenie model?: still Keeley
Gimme a buzz.
Insect we least thought we'd miss: bees
Scourge of society we always suspected was responsible: cell phones
Greenest band with music that isn't insufferable treacle: Cloud Cult
Climate convert most likely to give you the heebie-jeebies: Pat Robertson
Tie: Newt Gingrich
Blatantest attempt to exploit the climate crisis: nuclear power industry
Best alternative to nuclear power: URGE2
Least newsworthy press release: your product/organization/band/candidate/cousin went carbon neutral
Second least newsworthy press release: your product/organization/band/candidate/cousin is crossing the country in an alternatively powered vehicle to "raise awareness" of issue X
Jon Bon Jovi.
Photo: Stephen Lovekin / WireImage.com
Best eco-apology: Jon Bon Jovi
Favorite source of angry letters to the editor: alien abductees
Second favorite source of angry letters to the editor: brunettes
Bush most likely to receive some karmic forgiveness: Lauren
Worst song ever to still deserve an Oscar: I Need to Wake Up
Dirtiest smear on a halo: Obama's support for coal-to-liquids
Most creative source of biofuel: Ass fat
Tie: Kitties
Tesla Roadster.
Photo: Tesla Motors
Best reason to skip biofuels and go all-electric: Tesla Roadster
Leakiest pipeline operator: BP
Trivialest issue Umbra addressed: peeing in the shower
Most counterintuitively intriguing: the greenest way to boil water for tea
Most poignant if entirely quixotic gesture: climate resolutions in New Hampshire towns
Most blush-inducing Grist coverage: Outside
Most unlikely Grist coverage: Sports Illustrated
Scariest factoid: China expects to double its oil use in the next five years
Kristen Bell.
Photo: WireImage.com
World leader we'd most like to give a backrub to: Wen Jiabao
Eco-hero we'd most like to see body slam Dick Cheney: Mexican wrestler Hijo del Santo
Green celeb we just want to hug: Ed Begley Jr.
Green celeb we just want to ... talk to: Kristen Bell
Biggest danger posed by all the eco-progress made this year: organic-vodka hangovers
Calling all radicals: Unite for Kerry-Boxer
Dispassion as the world ends: The absent heart of the great climate affair
Comments
View as Flat
Delay And Deny Posted 2:05 am
23 Apr 2007
Hey, I guess April 20th was a great day for you ecologists to brush the suede on your Earth Shoes and wear the old tweed jacket with the patches on the elbows...oh, and I guess you'd wear those elephant bell bottoms if your bottom could still fit in it.
The Green movement reminds me a lot of Apple computer. On the surface, they are trying to present this young hip image of supple youngsters dancing to iPods. The reality is half of the Apple market is 55 or older.
Same veneer...different cult.
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karenc Posted 5:00 am
23 Apr 2007
Most Effective Environmental Education: the panties that say Eat Organic. Note: the Eat Local is implied.
Ultimate Cradle to Grave Purchase: the cardboard coffin I saw in Inhabitat.
Saddest but Touchingest Recent News Item: The NY Times story about the eco-socialites and their house parties for eco-cleaning products.
Surest Cure for the Organic Vodka Hangover: This Grist Earth Day List (tied with the Earth Day Cards)!
Happy Earth Day, Gristers!
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andybaumer Posted 1:37 am
25 Apr 2007
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