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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Why do we respond to bozos?
Churchill, not Chamberlain |
Ken Ward |
07 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Why are we letting pro-fossil fuel bozos hijack the only forum that environmentalists and climate-change activists have for wrestling with the daunting task of transforming America? I posted a few practical suggestions in response to David's question, 'Should we be rebutting the skeptics?' I'm going to restate one proposal -- to adopt a Craigslist-type policy allowing Grist readers to flag inappropriate posts. Gristmill is a forum for conversation and debate between ... |
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| Topics: Al Gore, climate, climate change mitigation, climate change skepticism, climate science, environmental movement, politics (all these topics) |
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Robert Wright at TED
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David Roberts |
07 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I love Robert Wright's thinking and his work, particularly NonZero. It's not explicitly green, so I won't get into it -- here's a good rundown -- but I will encourage everyone to watch this short talk Wright gave at TED last year: |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, messaging, politics (all these topics) |
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What to do now?: Conclusions and recommendations
A little something to take home with you |
Ken Ward |
07 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| ((brightlines_include)) It is within the capacity of U.S. environmentalists to refocus our energies on a tougher, more realistic climate agenda. We have the necessary resources, skills (in alumni as well as current staff and leadership), political power, and principles of action. The things we lack -- a national structure, institutional support services, strategic planning, a dedicated environmentalist core -- could be put in place if it were a priority. Cost, it mus ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate change mitigation, environmental movement, politics (all these topics) |
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Time's 100 most influential people
Plus some other folks |
Sarah van Schagen |
07 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Last week, Time magazine announced this year's Time 100, a list of the most influential people in the world. A handful of greenies made the list, including Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and even "light greenie" John Mayer.That list was chosen by a group of well-informed Time editors and other experts, but maybe more interesting is the magazine's Alt Time 100.This list probably has more names you recognize (w ... |
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| Topics: celebrity, environmental movement, green living, Prius (all these topics) |
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Two kinds of environmentalism
Technoscientific and ... not |
David Roberts |
03 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| I've been musing a bit on two different sorts of environmentalism, and I've recently come across two good exemplars. First, in Orion, Curtis White argues that environmentalists are involved in a futile enterprise as long as they fight from within the system -- as long as they use technoscientific, rationalist, bureaucratic language to fight problems that technoscientific, rationalist bureaucracies have wrought. We shouldn't blame big bad corporations. We are the pr ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, environmental movement, green living, politics (all these topics) |
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Grassroots good
Paul Hawken on the remaking of the world |
Erik Hoffner |
03 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Paul Hawken's new book Blessed Unrest is a much-needed analysis of the movement that's poised to change the world as we know it. It's a must read, (excerpted here in Orion magazine) even if you're not a self-described grassroots activist. In it, he states that 'the movement to restore people and planet is now composed of over one million organizations' working toward ecological sustainability and social justice. Maybe two million. And that: By conventional definition ... |
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| Topics: environmental movement, grassroots activism, green living, politics (all these topics) |
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Chait on the netroots
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David Roberts |
01 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Jon Chait has an expansive new piece in The New Republic about the rise of the 'netroots' -- i.e., the partisan, activist liberal blogosphere. I have my quibbles with some parts, particularly in the second half, but overall it's a far more comprehensive, fair, and respectful look at the netroots than you'll find anywhere else in the mainstream media. I don't consider Gristmill part of the netroots, in that its allegiances, to the extent it has any, are to environmenta ... |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, websites (all these topics) |
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It does to this one
Is the starfish story really just bunk? |
JMG |
01 May 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The estimable biodiversivist wrote, in another thread, that 'What we do as individuals is insignificant compared to changes in carbon neutral energy generation and transportation infrastructure.' Which is both true and not true, I think. It reminds me of the story about the little tyke throwing starfish stranded on the beach back into the water, and being told by the parent that it didn't matter, leading the child to say, 'It does to this one.' Cute story, all chicken-soup ... |
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| Topics: ecological footprint, environmental movement, green living, messaging (all these topics) |
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Green so light it barely leaves an impression
From pop star John Mayer |
David Roberts |
30 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| John Mayer. Photo: sushla via flickr Congratulations to pop star dreamboat John Mayer for penning what can only be termed a reductio ad absurdum of the light-green, change-your-lightbulbs, ten-things-you-can-do, don't-sweat-it-too-much, caring-a-little-is-OK but caring-too-much-is-square environmentalism. I was going to pick excerpts, but really you gotta read the whole post to get the full impact. Ladies and gentlemen, John Mayer: (Preface: Don't get tur ... |
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| Topics: celebrity, environmental movement, funnies, green living, messaging, music (all these topics) |
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Back in Black: Earth Day edition
Lewis Black on celebs giving green advice |
Sarah van Schagen |
27 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Lewis Black on celebs telling America to go green: "So there you have it, advice on saving the planet Earth from a bunch of people who couldn't even save Planet Hollywood." |
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| Topics: celebrity, environmental movement, funnies, green living (all these topics) |
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Da Pope!
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David Roberts |
27 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| His Most Excellent Holy Royal Pontificationist would like you to go green:According to Vatican sources, the present Pope is far more engaged in the green debate than John Paul. In the past year Benedict has spoken strongly on the need to preserve rainforests. In the next few weeks he visits Brazil. 'There is no longer a schism. The new interest in climate change and the environment is not surprising really. Benedict comes out of 1960s Germany, where environment and ... |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, religion and spirituality (all these topics) |
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'Four percent cited the coming end of the world or biblical prophecy, and 2 percent blamed space junk.'
Poll results! |
David Roberts |
27 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The NYT has a bucketload of important poll results. Here's the full poll; here's the summary: Americans in large bipartisan numbers say the heating of the earth's atmosphere is having serious effects on the environment now or will soon and think that it is necessary to take immediate steps to reduce its effects, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll finds. Beyond that is a whole series of juicy tidbits. I hardly know where to dip in. Some quotes: Ninety perc ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, cars, energy, environmental movement, green living, politics (all these topics) |
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The
Travel to exotic lands ... |
JMG |
26 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| During Vietnam we used to say that 'fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity' (OK, not exactly, but you get the point). I had a flashback of that today here at Gristmill.A new ad in rotation here from some outfit called the National Outdoor Leadership School invites you to 'Traverse a glacier -- before they melt.' In other words, NOLS has decided that there's no point in trying to be part of the solution, and it's better to make a buck making the problem worse, encou ... |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, messaging (all these topics) |
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Wondertoys and change avoidance
The seductive lure of toys that promise solutions without change |
JMG |
24 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Reading about the sunken tidal turbines -- which seem interesting -- I got an overwhelming feeling of "here we go again." Why is it that people who know that "eat the foods you love and lose weight without exercise!" is hokum can't resist spending hours and hours hyping and being hyped about technotoys that promise "abundant low-cost clean energy that lets you lose carbon without reducing consumption!" I'm an engineer. I like engineers. But most ... |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, placemaking (all these topics) |
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Galapagos report: An intro to water woes
A second dispatch from the sea |
Grist |
24 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Mary Pearl is the president of Wildlife Trust, cofounder of its Consortium for Conservation Medicine, and an adjunct research scientist at Columbia University. This week, she's traveling in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador with a boat full of scientists, conservationists, and business leaders to forge partnerships and develop solutions to the global freshwater crisis. This is the second of her dispatches from the journey. See her first dispatch here. Our first afternoon ... |
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| Topics: business, environmental movement, Galapagos Islands, water conflicts, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Who said it?
A belated Earth Day quiz |
Anna Fahey |
24 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Can you guess? 1. 'In 1971, I participated in the second Earth Day and became the coordinator of an interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program at West Georgia College.' Find out here. 2. On the occasion of the first Earth Day: '[there is an] absolute necessity of waging all-out war against the debauching of the environment.' Find out here. 3. 'Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing, head-on, the serious environmental, economi ... |
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| Topics: climate, environmental movement, politics (all these topics) |
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Daily Show on Earth Day
Funny |
David Roberts |
24 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| The Daily Show's Samantha Bee covers Earth Day (featuring RealClimate's Gavin Schmidt!): And as a bonus, here's Colbert: |
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| Topics: environmental movement, funnies, green living (all these topics) |
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Eating Crow
Notes from the road |
Kate Sheppard |
23 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Just as the whole Karl Rove v. Sheryl Crow thing was blowing up in the news, I was arriving in Washington, D.C. to cover ... Sheryl Crow. Taking on climate change. You can read about Crow's big arrival over on my blog, but a few quick thoughts on the Rove encounter before I head for the airport to come home. When I mentioned this story yesterday morning, I had no idea this would become the story-of-the-moment on all the major mainstream media outlets. But Sheryl Cro ... |
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| Topics: celebrity, environmental movement, green living, politics (all these topics) |
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Green polls reveal lazy bastards
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David Roberts |
23 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Joel Makower has a fascinating roundup of recent green poll results. He concludes: So, what do we know that we didn't know pre-Earth Day? Not much. It's business as usual: Americans want clean, affordable, and care-free solutions to climate change and every other environmental challenge. But don't ask most of them to change their habits, spend more, or go very far out of their way. But for companies, it's a different story. They're the ones we're looking to for s ... |
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| Topics: climate, environmental movement, green living (all these topics) |
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Google's Earth Day logo
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Chris Schults |
22 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, websites (all these topics) |
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"It is green thinks nature even in the dark"
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David Roberts |
22 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| It took [artist Mary Ellen] Carroll about three months to come up with that phrase [on behalf of the Precipice Alliance] and, she said, 'It should be something you should think about. |
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| Topics: art, climate, environmental movement, green living (all these topics) |
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The wrong question
Is climate change the most important global problem? |
Michael Tobis |
22 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Is climate change the most important global problem we face? This seems on its face a good question. Economists like Bjorn Lomborg take this reductionist recipe, spice it with an unshakable confidence in future growth, and conclude that climate should be low on our list of priorities. Lomborg's arguments follow from his assumptions. If his conclusions are wrong as they appear, perhaps the logic is wrong, or the data, or the underlying premises. All of these are ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, environmental movement (all these topics) |
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Earth Day TV
Check your local listings |
Adam Browning |
21 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| All the magazines have gone to press with what's become their annual Green Issue. And now TV is in on the act. MTV has a special Earth Day edition of Pimp My Ride: they take a '65 Impala, put in a 800 hp diesel engine, fill the tank with biodiesel, and race it against a Lamborghini. My money is on the Impala. Cameo by Governor Schwarzenegger, check local listings (April 22). While this isn't exactly a recipe for sustainability, that's not really the point, either. Ever ... |
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| Topics: cars, celebrity, environmental movement, green living, TV (all these topics) |
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Celebrating Earth Day through consumption?
Amazon encourages its customers to buy green |
Chris Schults |
20 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Ah, Earth Day. What could be a better way to celebrate our planet than buying more stuff and then having it shipped halfway across the country? Regardless of what you may think of the online behemoth, Amazon.com should get some credit for prominently promoting its Earth Day store on its home page for the last week. And if their customers are going to buy things, it might as well be green things, right? In their '10 Ways You Can Help the Environment' they suggest ... |
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| Topics: environmental movement, green living, green products, movies, websites (all these topics) |
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Galapagos report: CEOs, scientists, and a very cool trip
An expedition to see critters and talk freshwater |
Grist |
20 Apr 2007 |
Gristmill |
| Mary Pearl is the president of Wildlife Trust, cofounder of its Consortium for Conservation Medicine, and an adjunct research scientist at Columbia University. Over the next week, she'll be traveling in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador with a boat full of scientists, conservationists, and business leaders to forge partnerships and develop solutions to the global freshwater crisis. This is the first of her dispatches from the journey. Claudio Padua and I hatched a crazy idea ... |
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| Topics: business, environmental movement, Galapagos Islands, water conflicts, water pollution (all these topics) |
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