<![CDATA[Grist Feed: Gibberish]]> http://www.grist.org/ Articles about Gibberish from your friends at Grist en-us webmaster@grist.org (Grist) Sun, 29 Nov 2009 5:28:02 PDT Sun, 29 Nov 2009 5:28:02 PDT 2009, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[NYT reads the future: Senate Dems consider maybe doing something in 2010]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-31-nyt-reads-the-future-in-2010-senate-dems-consider-maybe-doing-so/ Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:27:03 -0700 Jonathan Hiskes http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-31-nyt-reads-the-future-in-2010-senate-dems-consider-maybe-doing-so/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

What do they know that we don't?A scoop in The New York Times doesn’t surprise me. A scoop from nine months into the future does. This morning the Times Environment page featured a ClimateWire story dated May 15, 2010.

“Senators Spend Recess Fine-Tuning Messages on Cap and Trade” finds Senate Democrats still hand-wringing over the proper messaging of a climate bill. It finds Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still confounded about how to line up his 59-vote majority behind a bill.

From the Times crystal ball:

As for the lead Democratic authors of the climate bill, both Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and John Kerry (Mass.) have largely stayed out of the spotlight this month. Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has been in her home state promoting her new novel and getting ready for a 2010 re-election campaign that likely will feature a top-tier GOP candidate in Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard.

Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been home in Boston recovering from hip surgery.

OK, the actual story lists the date as Aug. 28, 2009. Probably safe to say the 2010 date is an error.

Bonus Good News from South Dakota--The story reports on Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.):

Last summer, Johnson questioned his party's leadership for trying to force a floor debate on a comprehensive climate bill that set mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions. But in an Aug. 10 editorial, Johnson signaled he was now on board.

"How many times have you heard experts cite the fact that South Dakota is the fourth windiest state, but only ranks 20th in actual installed wind energy generation?" Johnson wrote. "Soon the Senate will consider climate change legislation that could finally help South Dakota to live up to its wind generating potential and capture the benefits of a cash crop that is just blowing across our landscape."






Related Links:

On “climategate”

Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success

Obama going to Copenhagen

]]> <![CDATA[Cash for ... other things!]]> http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-10-cash-for-other-things-green/ Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:01:26 -0700 Grist http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-10-cash-for-other-things-green/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.

So Congress approved and President Obama signed an extension of the hugely popular (and not-really-so-green) cash-for-clunkers program. Woohoo!

We can think of some better “Cash for ...” programs the government should be funding …

Cash for computers—Think of the power savings. Not to mention the peace of a Twitter-free life. Cash for cookies—Your sweet tooth is fueling a corn overload that will topple American agriculture. Oh, and it’s making you fat. Cash for shutting up climate change deniers—Eliminate noxious hot-air emissions. Just kidding! Mostly. Cash for your ‘stache—Stop shaving. Razors and shaving cream must have some carbon impact, right? Cash for your stash—Eliminate purple haze emissions. Cash for roommates who leave the lights on no matter how many times you remind them and also wear your hoodie without asking and don’t seem to realize that other people live here too, Trevor! Cash for chunky heels—So 2008. Cash for your kids (Did you really need more than two?) Cash for coal—Leave it underground where it belongs.
Cash for cabbage—Gives us gas. Cash for beans—Ditto. Reduce your personal methane emissions. Cash for beef—Cut back on meat, which, come to think of it, has a far higher carbon impact than vegetable protein like beans. Cash for CAFOs—Confined animal feeding operations—meat factories. They’re ecologically disastrous. And gross. Cash for bunkers—Convert your nuclear fallout shelter into a “climate change preparedness center.”
Cash for Doobie Brothers albums—The vinyl is toxic. Plus, really? You’re still holding onto those? Bonus! Actual Good Idea: Cash for frequent flier miles—Exchange them for train tickets, bus passes, bicycles—any other form of getting around would be less harmful from a greenhouse gas standpoint.




Related Links:

Martha Stewart blisters meat industry in Thanksgiving show

Toward a medically defensible energy policy

Newtongate: the final nail in the coffin of Enlightenment thinking

]]> <![CDATA[Asked about oil’s fungibility, Palin says ... um, something]]> http://www.grist.org/article/notable-quotable161/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:15:58 -0700 David Roberts http://www.grist.org/article/notable-quotable161/ Reprinted by permission from Grist. For more environmental news, humor, and inspiration, visit www.grist.org.




Related Links:

Oil: enough energy to melt glaciers!

Palin’s book spreads falsehoods about clean energy legislation

It’s Getting Ha! in Here: Maria Bamford

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