Grist | Topics | 146 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 146
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Erring on the side of 'heirloom' Greenwashing our vegetable modifiers	Laura Hess	01 Oct 2008	Gristmill
A few weeks ago, I was having dinner at a renowned restaurant in San Francisco, when I noticed something a bit troubling on the menu. According to the description, the 'Heirloom Tomato Salad' was made with a mix of Sweet 100 and Sungold tomatoes -- both of which are hybrid varieties. OK, big deal, they made a mistake. Well, two weeks later, I stopped at a farm stand advertising heirloom tomatoes, and sure enough, the alleged heirlooms were hybrids. All th ...
Topics: messaging, advertising, greenwashing, agriculture, food (all these topics)

Say it again, Dr. Sam Why scientists aren't more persuasive, part 1	Joseph Romm	30 Sep 2008	Gristmill
Of all the talents bestowed upon men, none is so precious as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it wields a power more durable than that of a great king ... The subtle art of combining the various elements that separately mean nothing and collectively mean so much in an harmonious proportion is known to very few ... [T]he student of rhetoric may indulge the hope that Nature will finally yield to observation and perseverance, the key to the hearts of men. So wro ...
Topics: mainstream media, climate change skepticism, messaging, climate science, climate (all these topics)

Volt reality check Chevy Volt not so revolutionary	biodiversivist	22 Sep 2008	Gristmill
For those of you who missed it, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz hit the talk show circuit last week to talk up the latest incarnation of the Chevy Volt (more on his boneheaded climate change comments here and here). The marketing goal is to create the public perception that the Volt is an electric car (get it, volt?), to differentiate it from competitors like the Prius, which are mere hybrids. It may work, and I'm OK with that as long as it sells low-emission cars. Look at ...
Topics: business, tech, messaging, electric vehicles, cars, Big Auto (all these topics)

Strategy 101 for greenhouse-gas deniers Using doubt to compete with a scientific body of fact	Sean Casten	14 Jul 2008	Gristmill
This will come as no surprise to Grist readers, but it's nice to see it in mainstream print. The Chicago Tribune had a nice piece in the Sunday paper articulating how those on the wrong side of science have consistently used doubt as a strategy to maintain a scientifically-uninformed policy. In particular, note that: A cigarette executive in 1969 unwisely put the strategy on paper: 'Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' ...
Topics: climate change skepticism, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Wait, they're not the same?!	David Roberts	11 Jun 2008	Gristmill
In the Boston Globe, Carol Browner and Bob Sussman construct a short and powerful critique of McCain's climate/energy positions, tacking against the kind of foolishness that has addled the brains of the folks over at the L.A. Times.
Topics: Barack Obama, climate, energy, John McCain, messaging, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

Attack of the killer tomatoes, national edition Tomato salmonella scare hits the big time	Tom Philpott	11 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Insert everything I said in this post, except now the salmonella-tainted tomato scare has gone nationwide, whereas before, the FDA had been limiting its warning to Texas and New Mexico.Here is Associated Press: Federal officials hunted for the source of a salmonella outbreak in Connecticut and 16 other states linked to three types of raw tomatoes, while the list of supermarkets and restaurants yanking those varieties from shelves and menus grew. Meanwhile, ...
Topics: agriculture, food, industrial ag, messaging, organic food (all these topics)

Energy prices	David Roberts	09 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Conservatives want to terrify voters at the prospect of climate policy raising energy prices. Meanwhile: 'Wealth Evaporates as Gas Prices Clobber McMansions.' How long will we stay on this sinking ship?
Topics: climate change mitigation, economy, energy, gas prices, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Belly up! There is such a thing as a free lunch	David Roberts	09 Jun 2008	Gristmill
You frequently hear that 'there's no such thing as a free lunch,' particularly when it comes to climate and energy policy. It's a mark of 'seriousness' to solemnly proclaim that it's all going to cost a lot of money and be very, very difficult. But the free-lunch canard is just another way of restating the central and most deleterious myth of conventional economics: full employment, the notion that our capital and energy resources are optimally deployed, and thus ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, messaging (all these topics)

A new part of the No Duh curriculum Peer-reviewed study finds that right-wing think tanks have stymied environmental progress	David Roberts	09 Jun 2008	Gristmill
To file under 'academic demonstration of what we already knew,' here's an abstract from a new paper in the journal Environmental Politics: Environmental scepticism denies the seriousness of environmental problems, and self-professed 'sceptics' claim to be unbiased analysts combating 'junk science.' This study quantitatively analyses 141 English-language environmentally sceptical books published between 1972 and 2005. We find that over 92 per cent of these books, mos ...
Topics: books, climate, climate change skepticism, education, messaging (all these topics)

Flock Together New climate campaign aimed at U.S. consumers		05 Jun 2008	News
Posted at 3:30 PM on 05 Jun 2008 A European campaign to raise consumer awareness of climate change has made its U.S. debut. The Together campaign -- not to be confused with the similarly named-and-agendaed "we" campaign -- was initiated by the nonprofit Climate Group and kicked off in the U.S. by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Var ...
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, climate, consumerism, environmental movement, green living, messaging, news (all these topics)

A tool in the toolbox Richard Revesz responds to Lisa Heinzerling, defending cost-benefit analysis	Guest author	05 Jun 2008	Gristmill
This is a guess essay from Richard L. Revesz, dean of New York University School of Law and co-author, with Michael A. Livermore, of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health, published by Oxford University Press. It continues a dialogue with professor Lisa Heinzerling: see Revesz's initial post and Heinzerling's response. ----- Cost-benefit analysis, correctly applied to many environmental problems, will show ...
Topics: economy, environmental movement, health, messaging (all these topics)

Who is being misleading? A Post columnist's defenders can't salvage his poor cap-and-trade logic	Ryan Avent	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Tyler Cowen weighs in on the cap-and-trade debate. He focuses on my criticism of Samuelson's seeming failure to understand the relationship between cap-and-trade and a carbon tax: But Samuelson is correct here and Avent is misleading. When there is uncertainty about the location of the social optimum, and uncertainty about elasticities, a carbon tax and cap-and-trade are by no means equivalent. If you see very high costs from setting the binding cap too l ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, energy, messaging (all these topics)

The truth will set you free Democrats are undermining the strongest message behind climate policy	David Roberts	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
In this post, I argued that the best, simplest, and most impactful message for advocates of climate legislation is this: Good climate policy will rescue American families from a sinking ship. I meant to add that the Dems not only seem to miss the power of this message, but are by all appearances working to undermine it. What do I mean? Well, core to the message is a simple truth: Fossil energy costs are going up. They're going to keep going up. The reasons are comp ...
Topics: climate, energy, fossil fuels, gas prices, messaging, politics (all these topics)

The problem with 'We Can Solve It' An ad campaign on climate needs spokespeople who believe what they're saying	Ken Ward	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Idly watching TV the other day, my attention was caught by the arresting image of Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson sitting on a sofa. The artfully shot, 15-second spot is one of the first blitz of television ads from We Can Solve It, Al Gore's $300 million project to build up a public base of support for climate action. The two resemble each other, looking as sleek and plump as sea otters after a good feed. Sharpton and Robertson fence good naturedly, following t ...
Topics: climate, environmental movement, messaging, religion and spirituality (all these topics)

It's official:	David Roberts	04 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Green is not the new black.
Topics: John McCain, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Jumping ship from the USS Fossil Climate action advocates need a simple, compelling message on costs	David Roberts	03 Jun 2008	Gristmill
As this lamentable New York Times piece demonstrates, advocates for action on climate change have lost the framing battle. If they don't want to lose the war for America's future, they need to step back, coalesce around a simple message, and get it out to voters in a disciplined way. The corporatist wing of the Republican party has a simple, compelling populist message: capping emissions will hurt American families. It will raise the price of energy -- gasoline, he ...
Topics: climate, energy, fossil fuels, greenhouse-gas emissions, legislation, messaging (all these topics)

Discover Planet Green Discovery's new green network launches tomorrow	Sarah van Schagen	03 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Do not adjust your television set. What you are seeing -- the rebranding of Discovery Home Channel as Planet Green -- is perfectly normal. Actually, it's better than normal; it's making 'green' normal.Beginning at 6 p.m. EDT tomorrow, some 50 million homes will be introduced to 250 hours of original green lifestyle programming as the 24/7 Planet Green network launches. Here's a look at the lineup:Premiering in JuneAlter EcoThe Show Formerly Known As The ...
Topics: celebrity, green living, messaging, TV (all these topics)

Nice way of life. Shame if something happened to it.	David Roberts	31 May 2008	Gristmill
According to ACCCE, if we don't use coal, we'll have to wave goodbye to the American way of life:
Topics: carbon sequestration, climate, coal, energy, lying liars, messaging (all these topics)

What do we tell the voters? Behavioral quirks make taxes a tough sell	Ryan Avent	29 May 2008	Gristmill
Tom Friedman is in full-on green mode these days, which is a welcome change from his writing on Iraq. And his proposal yesterday -- that the U.S. should declare a $4 price floor for a gallon of gas -- is all right, although I'm not sure why we shouldn't just raise the gas tax and make it a percentage of the pump price rather than a flat number.But I'm interested in his introduction to the column: Imagine for a minute, just a minute, that someone running for president ...
Topics: energy, gas prices, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Drill here, drill now, pay less Gingrich mounts campaign to support domestic oil drilling	David Roberts	28 May 2008	Gristmill
"Green conservative" and We campaign spokesman Newt Gingrich is mounting a new campaign: "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less." His promise is that (blocking Lieberman-Warner and) opening up drilling off the coasts, in the Gulf of Mexico, in northern Alaska, and in the Rockies (for oil shale) would lower gas prices. Now, for one thing that's just a lie. It's false. According to the EIA, the U.S. has about 21 billion gallons in proven oil reserves ...
Topics: energy, gas prices, lying liars, messaging, Newt Gingrich, oil (all these topics)

Different worlds Well-informed Republicans are not concerned about climate change	David Roberts	27 May 2008	Gristmill
A new analysis of survey data finds: The more Democrats think they know about global warming, the more concerned they are. But Republicans who consider themselves well informed on the topic seem no more worried than those who profess ignorance, a study suggests. What's going on? Here's my one-sentence diagnosis: Democrats are more likely to be moral relativists and epistemological realists; Republicans are more likely to be the opposite. The base of the right is u ...
Topics: climate, climate change skepticism, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Agitprop, enemy of the human race edition	David Roberts	19 May 2008	Gristmill
A nice roundup of the clean coal PR campaign over on Salon.
Topics: coal, energy, messaging (all these topics)

Cost-benefit environmentalism: an oxymoron Lisa Heinzerling responds to Richard Revesz on cost-benefit analysis	Guest author	14 May 2008	Gristmill
This is a guest essay from Lisa Heinzerling, Professor of Law at Georgetown University and author, with Frank Ackerman, of Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing, published in 2004 by The New Press. ----- The efficient wasteland In his essay, Richard Revesz argues in favor of a 'cost-benefit environmentalism' that embraces economic analysis and "uses both reason and compassion to justify strong environmental rules." It is wo ...
Topics: economy, environmental movement, health, messaging, politics (all these topics)

Blustery irony Anti-wind McCain delivers climate remarks at foreign wind company	Joseph Romm	12 May 2008	Gristmill
Conservative presidential candidate Sen. John McCain chose a clever but ultimately hypocritical location for his big climate speech. I hope the media aren't fooled by his ironic choice of wind turbine company Vestas as the backdrop, but I have little doubt they will run enticing photos and videos of wind turbines. McCain, however, does not deserve to be linked to such images. I would title the speech 'Not the man for the job' (see 'No climate for old men'). Let's be ...
Topics: energy, John McCain, messaging, politics, wind power (all these topics)

'There's a better way' New McCain climate ad aimed at independent voters	Kate Sheppard	12 May 2008	Gristmill
John McCain released a new television advertisement today to accompany his big climate policy speech in Portland, Ore., this afternoon. Here's the ad: The ad illustrates McCain's attempts to appeal to independents; climate change is a key area where he believes he can make inroads with voters outside the Republican party. Note these lines in particular: 'One extreme thinks high taxes and crippling regulation is the solution. Another denies the problem even exis ...
Topics: climate, elections, John McCain, messaging, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics)

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