<![CDATA[Grist Feed: Brilliance]]> http://www.grist.org/ Articles about Brilliance from your friends at Grist en-us webmaster@grist.org (Grist) Sat, 28 Nov 2009 5:48:21 PDT Sat, 28 Nov 2009 5:48:21 PDT 2009, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Chamber plays the fool in Yes Men hoax]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-19-chamber-plays-the-fool-in-yes-men-hoax/ Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:38:53 -0700 Grist http://www.grist.org/article/2009-10-19-chamber-plays-the-fool-in-yes-men-hoax/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Another brilliant stunt from the Yes Men: the New York pranksters sent out a fake press release this morning, pretending to be from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is reversing its opposition to the clean energy bill in Congress. It’s had a change of heart. It’s now taking climate change seriously, the press release said.

It was all a hoax, but before that was discovered Reuters, Fox Business Network, and CNBC reported the news as fact. The Chamber, which can’t seem to catch a break these days, clarified that it still, in fact, opposes the climate bill and thinks these shenanigans “undermine the genuine effort to find solutions on the challenge of climate change.” But the best fun happened at a fake press conference held by Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum, pretending to be a Chamber spokesperson. A real Chamber spokesman interrupts, and shouting and hilarity ensue. Watch it:




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]]> <![CDATA[MacArthur genius award winners include climate and ocean researchers]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-22-macarthur-genius-award-winners-include-climate-and-ocean-researc/ Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:04:37 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-22-macarthur-genius-award-winners-include-climate-and-ocean-researc/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Some of the MacArthur Foundation “genius award” winners are doing work related to climate change. And they now they each have $500 grand, no strings attached. Neat-o:

Climate scientist Peter Huybers mines “a wealth of often-conflicting experimental observations to develop compelling theories that explain global climate change over time.” Biogeochemist Daniel Sigman unravels “the interrelated physical, chemical, geological, and biological forces that have shaped the oceans’ fertility and the Earth’s climate over the past two million years.”

Also sorta related:

Bridge engineer Theodore Zoli makes “major technological advances to protect transportation infrastructure in the event of natural and man-made disasters.” Evolutionary Biologist Beth Shapiro uses “molecular phylogenetics and biostatistics to reconstruct the influences on population dynamics of extinct or severely challenged species.” Mark Bradford makes art. It “incorporates ephemera from urban environments into mixed-media works on canvas that are rich in texture and visual complexity ... his signature and best-known work takes the form of massively scaled, abstract collages that he assembles out of signage and other materials collected, most frequently, from his own neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles."

Much, much more info on the foundation’s site.




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]]> <![CDATA[Yes Men pranksters make fake New York Post about real climate emergency]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-21-yes-men-pranksters-make-fake-new-york-post-on-real-climate-emerg/ Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:51:50 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-21-yes-men-pranksters-make-fake-new-york-post-on-real-climate-emerg/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Photo: drivenbyboredom The “culture jamming” prankster troupe The Yes Men contributed to the Climate Week excitement in New York City this morning by distributing fake copies of the New York Post. The illicit special edition of the tabloid warned that climate change could unleash heat waves, flooding, and other disasters over the next decades.

The fake paper (also online) contains actual non-fake information, the group says:

Although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100% true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts.

"This could be, and should be, a real New York Post," said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. "Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever faced, and it should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we solve the problem."

The group says nearly a million copies were distributed by more than 2,000 volunteers.

The fake Post's cover story ("We're Screwed") reports the frightening conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists commissioned by the mayor's office to determine the potential effects of climate change on the City. That report was released in February of this year, but received very little press at the time. Other lead articles describe the Pentagon's alarmed response to global warming ("Clear & Present Disaster"), the U.S. government's sadly minuscule response to
the crisis ("Congress Cops Out on Climate"), China's alternative energy program ("China's Green Leap Forward Overtakes U.S."), and how if the US doesn't quickly pass a strong climate bill, the crucial Copenhagen climate talks this December could be a "Flopenhagen."

And there’s one bona-fide non-prankish plain-old-journalism scoop:

One article ("Carbon counter counts New Yorkers as fools") reveals that Deutsche Bank – which erected a seven-story "carbon counter" in central Manhattan - not only invests heavily in coal mining companies worldwide, but has recently entered the business of coal trading itself.

Not bad. Does this mean it takes a fake newspaper to get out the real version of the news, with the urgency the story requires?

Here’s the group’s video:

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo







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]]> <![CDATA[Burning Embers climate design contest has a winner [UPDATED]]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-17-burning-embers-climate-design-contest-needs-your-vote/ Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:55:02 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-17-burning-embers-climate-design-contest-needs-your-vote/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Update! The people have spoken; we have have a winner. Presenting the nifty Tracing Emissions mobile (and a gallery of entries).

Photo courtesy spike55151 via FlickStory: In June I wrote about Burning Embers, an art and design competition that invited students to create illustrations that reflected the causes and effects of climate change. The idea was that we need more compelling imagery than the sometimes-drab, sometimes-confusing graphics in policy reports. Well, four intriguing finalists have been selected—a video, a photo essay, a set of “animal cards,” and a mobile (the last is my favorite).

Ji Lee, creative director of the Google Creative Lab, did the judging for the organizer, the non-profit Artist as Citizen. Commenters on the Dot Earth blog of New York Times science reporter Andy Revkin will vote for the winner. Revkin pitched the early idea for a climate art competition after reporting on the problematic “burning embers” graph in a 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

Anyway, have a look at the four finalists—they’re all worthwhile. Then vote for a favorite at Dot Earth, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Thin Ice
M. Drennan, School of Visual Arts, M.F.A., Photography, 2009

Extinct
D. Kim, Parsons School of Design, B.F.A., Communication Design, 2009

Tracing Emissions
T. Holliday, S. Reagin, Pratt Institute, both M.F.A., 2011

Climate Change
M. Shapiro, New York University, B.F.A. Film, 2011:

Climate Change from ArtistAsCitizen on Vimeo.








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]]> <![CDATA[Caveman congressman attacks—watch out, solar family]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-01-caveman-congressman-attacks-watch-out-solar-family/ Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:29:19 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-09-01-caveman-congressman-attacks-watch-out-solar-family/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Burning Embers design contest seeks new ways to illustrate climate change]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-09-climate-design-contest/ Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:54:09 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-09-climate-design-contest/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Photo courtesy spike55151 via FlickrNow here’s a great idea: The student-driven not-for-profit Artist as Citizen has a new Burning Embers design competition, inviting student artists to find new ways to portray climate change trends, causes, and effects. The contest, open to undergraduate and graduate art students and recent graduates, invites work in any medium that can be shown online--illustrations, graphics, photo montage, YouTube videos, flash movies, or any combination.

Burning Embers was inspired by a problem familiar to anyone who’s spent time with scientific reports: graphics by scientists can be achingly dull or confusing. The project takes its name from the “burning embers” diagrams created for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and criticized alternately for being too unclear or too unnerving (backstory here). The contest offers two calls:

We seek new designs for the information in the 'burning embers' graph or in similar risk evaluations like these graphs from MIT ...

… OR: come up with a personal way to engage, or examine, the risk assessment in 'burning embers' -- literally, or impressionistically; as a narrative, or in documentary form.

Examples for alternate lines of inquiry: 1. document your friend's reaction to the graphs, or that of strangers on the street. 2. find out how much time an average person in your area devotes to thinking about the subject.

The contest includes a $4,000 prize and makes available grants for concept development in amounts from $200 to $800 (for team entries). The competition page has much more information. New York Times science reporter Andy Revkin teamed up with Artist as Citizen to conceive and promote the contest; after the July 31 deadline for entries, they will be judged by the public on Revkin’s Dot Earth blog.

The competition rests on two appealing premises—that communicating climate change to the public requires a diversity of media, and that scientific art should be held to the same standards of accuracy as traditional forms of journalism: “data compared should be faithful to the IPCC, MIT, or other scientific primary source. (Please include the name of your source.)”

Know a student artist? Pass this along.








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]]> <![CDATA[Lessons in fast-food greenwashing from The Simpsons]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-20-lessons-in-fast-food/ Wed, 20 May 2009 13:51:17 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-20-lessons-in-fast-food/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Sunday's episode of the Simpsons begins with a wickedly good greenwashing story: Krusty learns from one of his lawyers that "studies show your Krustyburger is the unhealthiest fast-food item in the world."

"Worse than a double Krustyburger?"

"Somehow, yes."

Krusty introduces a green campaign centered on the vegetarian Mother Nature Burger, made of "100-percent wheat-fed barley." So brilliant.

Also featured: Norwegian humor, immigration humor, monkey-smoking-a-cigarette humor.




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]]> <![CDATA[Free local cheese, a win-win-win]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-18-free-local-cheese/ Tue, 19 May 2009 09:53:22 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-18-free-local-cheese/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Jeff Maurone via Flickr.If you were anywhere near Seattle this weekend and you didn’t make it to the Seattle Cheese Festival, oh man, I’m sorry. Oh man.

Pike Place Market, a sample-lover’s paradise on any day, played host to more than 200 artisanal cheesemakers for the weekend. Each brought some fine creations and each offered samples with extreme generosity. There were goat cheeses, sheep cheeses, and dairy cheeses, of just about every form imaginable. There were farmers from around the Northwest, and around the world, willing to talk about their methods and the diet of their animals. As an enthusiastic but otherwise unqualified cheese correspondent, I couldn’t come close to picking a favorite, though I can’t stop thinking about a fresh sheep’s milk offering from Black Sheep Creamery in Adna, Wash.

Organizers prepared for 65,000 attendees and may well have exceeded that target. Attendees barely held on to the façade of Seattle nice as they elbowed to get within arm’s reach of the more popular tables. I can’t imagine how many toothpicks, plastic spoons, and miniature plastic cups were consumed.

Sure, in the big picture of national dairy consumption, it made nary a blip—Kraft sells bazillions more units of factory cheese than these regional outfits. One salesperson told me how a partnership with Costco has been crucial for her company, offering a reminder that even noble artisan producers rely on problematic long-distance distribution.

But in the small picture of celebrating human-scale food consumption in all its breadth and splendor, it was a fine little party.




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]]> <![CDATA[Auto-Tune the News: Katie Couric on arctic sea ice]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-24-auto-tune-the-news-katie/ Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:31:59 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-24-auto-tune-the-news-katie/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[A video about energy efficiency set to M.I.A.‘s ‘Paper Planes’]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-03-26-video-about-energy-efficiency/ Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:10:04 -0700 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/2009-03-26-video-about-energy-efficiency/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[‘Minimalist’ cooking master connects the dots between food, climate, and bad health]]> http://www.grist.org/article/Mark-Bittman-sounds-the-alarm/ Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:19:59 -0800 Tom Philpott http://www.grist.org/article/Mark-Bittman-sounds-the-alarm/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Eco-activist bids up oil and gas leases at auction]]> http://www.grist.org/article/tsbttm/ Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:34:00 -0800 Grist http://www.grist.org/article/tsbttm/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

At a federal auction for oil and gas leases in Utah last week, environmental activist Tim DeChristopher posed as a buyer, successfully bidding up lease prices on BLM land by hundreds of thousands of dollars and winning 13 parcels that he admits he can’t actually pay for. The BLM is giving the other (real) bidders 10 days to decide if they want to withdraw their bids on the parcels they won at inflated prices. Some bidders indicated they would likely hold on to their leases despite the increased price since the incoming Obama administration may not offer the same leases again.




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]]> <![CDATA[Nick Kristoff praises Obama’s ability to ‘exult in complexity’]]> http://www.grist.org/article/now-even-a-smart-kid-can-dream-of-being-president/ Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:43:51 -0800 Joseph Romm http://www.grist.org/article/now-even-a-smart-kid-can-dream-of-being-president/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Obama on dealing with dumb debate questions]]> http://www.grist.org/article/notable-quotable82/ Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:00:58 -0800 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/notable-quotable82/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Random question of the day]]> http://www.grist.org/article/random-question-of-the-day1/ Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:51:21 -0700 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/random-question-of-the-day1/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Paul MacCready speaks at TED]]> http://www.grist.org/article/making-the-world-desirable-and-sustainable/ Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:35:09 -0700 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/making-the-world-desirable-and-sustainable/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, again]]> http://www.grist.org/article/you-fey-me/ Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:07:59 -0700 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/you-fey-me/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Milwaukee’s Growing Power founder snags a much-deserved MacArthur ]]> http://www.grist.org/article/will-allen-urban-farmer-genius/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:31:55 -0700 Tom Philpott http://www.grist.org/article/will-allen-urban-farmer-genius/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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]]> <![CDATA[Urban farmer awarded ‘genius’ grant]]> http://www.grist.org/article/genius/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:35:00 -0700 Grist http://www.grist.org/article/genius/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

Will Allen.

Urban farmer Will Allen has been named one of this year's recipients of the prestigious "genius" grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The grant recognizes Allen's work bringing affordable fresh produce and quality grass-fed meats to the urban poor and educating communities about sustainable farming. Allen co-founded the group Growing Power in Milwaukee in the early '90s to engage kids in food production and educate them about where food comes from. At the same time, the organization also worked to ensure that low-income neighborhoods had access to fresh fruits and vegetables via farmers' markets and other programs. The group runs a two-acre urban farm in Milwaukee and a 40-acre plot in Merton, Wisc., that both teach sustainable, low-cost farming techniques to people of all ages and backgrounds. Growing Power has also spread to Chicago, where Allen's daughter Erika runs a parallel program that includes a community garden, education programs for would-be farmers and gardeners, and an organic farm in Grant Park.




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]]> <![CDATA[Drinking game rules for Sarah Palin’s big speech]]> http://www.grist.org/article/palin-ale/ Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:42:32 -0700 Grist http://www.grist.org/article/palin-ale/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




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