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How Does Your Garden Grow?
Ontario plans to ban garden pesticides |
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23 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:14 PM on 23 Apr 2008 Photo: Laura Gibb The province of Ontario plans to ban the sale and use of garden pesticides. The legislation would keep lawn-owners in Canada's most populous province from using more than 70 chemicals present in more than 300 products. Critics cry double standard, though, as Ontario's golf courses, farms, and forests would be exempt from the ban. If approved, Ontario's pesticide regulations will ... |
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| Topics: Canada, gardening, green living, news, regulation, toxics (all these topics) |
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Climate Be Damned
E.U. plows ahead with coal |
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23 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:24 AM on 23 Apr 2008 Even as it makes plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, the European Union is gearing up to put some 50 coal plants on line in the next five years. Europeans' distaste for nuclear energy and the relative cheap cost of coal -- even when carbon permits are factored in -- have made the black rock attractive for meeting rising demand. E.U. electric companies say they're seeking out "clean" coal, an oxymoron that ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, dumbassery , energy, European Union, news (all these topics) |
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City of Angles
If you're building in L.A., you gotta build green |
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23 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:36 AM on 23 Apr 2008 Los Angeles has become the biggest U.S. city to pass green-building laws. Under the regulations announced Tuesday, new commercial and residential structures of more than 50,000 square feet will have to be LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The law also applies to major renovations. "We look toward the future through a greener lens," says Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, "a ... |
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| Topics: green building, Los Angeles, news, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics) |
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Expanding the Sphere's Influence
Prez candidates talk up Earth Day, Clinton clinches Pennsylvania primary |
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23 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:40 AM on 23 Apr 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won her party's primary in Pennsylvania Tuesday by a 10-point margin over rival Barack Obama. It's unclear what role environmental issues played in the Pennsylvania contest, if any, though Pennsylvania is one of many important coal states in the Democratic contest and both Clinton and Obama have regularly tou ... |
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| Topics: elections, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Who Ya Calling Corny?
Time hearts Grist, Grist hearts flattery |
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22 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:59 PM on 22 Apr 2008 In tandem with its green issue, Time magazine has made a list of its fave green websites. And my, my, who is that at the top? "Grist is the Colbert Report of climate change, the Daily Show of deforestation, the Oprah of oil dependency -- except with real reporting and analytical journalism," says Time. "The e-zine delivers news and news-you-can-use on pivotal topics -- with punny, some ... |
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| Topics: news, shameless self-promotion (all these topics) |
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At Lung Last
Smog can kill, says report |
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22 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:57 PM on 22 Apr 2008 Short-term exposure to smog is clearly linked to premature deaths, a National Academy of Sciences report has concluded. Some Bush administration officials have claimed that the link between ground-level ozone and health is, well, hazy: when the U.S. EPA was determining acceptable air standards for ozone last month, officials in the Office of Management and Budget claimed there was "considerable uncertainty" of a ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, health, news, ozone, politics, regulation (all these topics) |
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Bambi Would Be Proud
Walt Disney Co. gets into nature |
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22 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:40 PM on 22 Apr 2008 The Walt Disney Company has announced a new film division that will focus on nature documentaries. The creatively named Disneynature will aim to produce two films every year starting in 2009, hoping to catch the interest of some of the viewers who flocked to Warner Bros.' March of the Penguins and the Discovery Channel/BBC series "Planet Earth." Keep your eyes out for the Disney-produced Earth in 20 ... |
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| Topics: business, green living, movies, news (all these topics) |
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Start Your Engines
Feds set fuel-economy benchmarks for automakers |
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22 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:14 AM on 22 Apr 2008 Federal regulators will propose benchmarks Tuesday for automakers to hit on their way to reaching a fuel-economy requirement of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Auto fleets will have to average 27.8 mpg by 2011 and 31.6 mpg by 2015 -- a more aggressive timetable than was required by Congress. That's 35.7 mpg for passenger cars in 2015 (new cars averaged 31.3 mpg last year) and 28.6 mpg for light truc ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, climate, fuel efficiency, news, politics, regulation (all these topics) |
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Think Again
All-electric car coming to the U.S. next year |
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22 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:57 AM on 22 Apr 2008 Reasonably priced, all-electric cars are coming soon to a California near you. (And then to the rest of the U.S. before too long.) Think Global, which was sold by Ford Motor Co. to Norwegian investors in 2003, will partner with two venture capital firms to mass-produce the battery-powered Think City in the U.S., starting next year. About the size of a Mini Cooper, the Think City is a two-seater but has ro ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, news, United States (all these topics) |
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Earth Hurls Are Easy
Our third annual list of the year's goodies, oddities, and inanities |
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21 Apr 2008 |
Grist Feature |
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| Topics: climate, energy, funnies, holiday, news, politics (all these topics) |
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That's One Expensive Hamburger
PETA offers $1 million for commercially viable test-tube meat |
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21 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:17 PM on 21 Apr 2008 PETA thinks the idea of test-tube meat looks like a million bucks. Literally. The outspoken animal-rights group is offering a cool one mil to the "first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012." The idea caused "a near civil war in our office," says PETA founder Ingrid Ne ... |
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| Topics: animal welfare, food, news (all these topics) |
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Do the Congo?
Gigantic hydropower dam planned for Congo River |
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21 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:44 PM on 21 Apr 2008 Some of the world's largest banks and construction firms gathered with seven African governments Monday to chat about plans for an $80 billion hydroelectric dam on the Congo River. The proposed Grand Inga dam could generate twice the electricity of China's controversial Three Gorges Dam and greatly increase the amount of cheap and clean power currently available in Africa, according to supporters. &qu ... |
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| Topics: Africa, Congo, dams, energy, hydropower, news (all these topics) |
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Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Frog Gone?
Lots of amphibians ending up as roadkill, says research |
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21 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:40 AM on 21 Apr 2008 Need a new reason to hate cars? You're in luck! Death by vehicle could be a major contributing factor in declining numbers of amphibians, according to new research published in the journal Herpetological Conservation and Biology. (Hee hee, they said "herpetological.") Intrepid road-kill researchers from Purdue University spent 17 months schlepping up 10, ... |
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| Topics: cars, endangered species, news, scientific research, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Pet Scan
Cats and dogs contaminated with chemicals, says study |
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21 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:18 AM on 21 Apr 2008 Fido and Fluffy are contaminated with higher levels of toxic chemicals than humans are, according to a report from the Environmental Working Group. In a test of the blood and urine of dozens of cats and dogs, researchers found 48 industrial chemicals. The contamination likely comes from such actions as gnawing on plastic toys, sleeping on fire-retardant-covered furniture, frolicking on pesticide-lade ... |
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| Topics: animal welfare, green living, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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By Our Power Combined
California utilities scuffle over cap-and-trade |
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21 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:42 AM on 21 Apr 2008 California is well aware that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is easier said than done. The state's attempts to craft an effective cap-and-trade system are causing infighting among public utilities and their privately owned counterparts. Public utilities, which source more of their power from coal, protest that they're going to end up paying out the nose to the state and seeing the money red ... |
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| Topics: business, California, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions, news, politics, regulation, state politics (all these topics) |
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Down to the Last Drop
Nalgene, Wal-Mart back away from BPA |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:08 PM on 18 Apr 2008 Bottle manufacturer Nalgene will stop using plastic containing bisphenol A in response to concerns from the National Toxicology Program and the Canadian health department that the chemical probably shouldn't be sucked on by kids. Nalgene says it still believes its clear, hard plastic bottles "are safe for their intended use" but says it's responding to customers who "indicated they preferr ... |
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| Topics: business, food, green living, green products, health, news, shopping, toxics (all these topics) |
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We'll Always Have Paris
Meeting of major economies ends with little progress |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:42 PM on 18 Apr 2008 A U.S.-led gathering of major economies in Paris this week concluded, as previous meetings have done, with little progress. The 17 countries bashed President Bush's climate speech for a while, then argued about whether to set a goal of halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. (Guess who's against it?) French president Nicolas Sarkozy made himself quoteworthy, saying that climate ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, international politics, news, politics (all these topics) |
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On His Pope-box
Pope preaches environmental protection to United Nations |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:00 PM on 18 Apr 2008 Photo: AP / Julie Jacobson After gallivanting around Washington, D.C., Pope Benedict XVI traveled to New York Friday to make an address to the United Nations General Assembly. In a speech largely focused on human rights, the pope also made note of the world's plentiful other problems, including "the protection of the environment, of resources, and of the climate." Our environmenta ... |
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| Topics: climate, news, religion and spirituality, United Nations (all these topics) |
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Dear Sir or Madam
Governors will pester candidates about climate |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:28 AM on 18 Apr 2008 A gaggle of governors will conclude a meeting at Yale with an agreement to pester the presidential candidates about climate change. Governors of 18 states, representing more than half of the U.S. population, pledge to "reach out to major presidential candidates as a means of shaping the first 100 days of the next administration." source: Reuters From the Archive ... |
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| Topics: climate, news, politics, presidential race 08, state politics (all these topics) |
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P is for Procrastination
Polar bear listing decision delayed, again |
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18 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:22 AM on 18 Apr 2008 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it needs 10 more weeks to decide whether to list polar bears as a threatened or endangered species. The agency's self-imposed deadline is now June 30; the original deadline was Jan. 9. The USFWS says it needs time to review the legal and policy implications of a listing, but litigious greens suspect the delay may have something to do with the ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, Department of Interior, endangered species, news, polar bears (all these topics) |
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A Jolly Good Time
British prime minister chats climate with Bush |
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17 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:25 PM on 17 Apr 2008 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in Washington, D.C., Thursday to sit down for a chit-chat with President Bush. Brown told press that he and Bush "agreed we must work internationally to secure progress at the G8 and toward a post-Kyoto deal on climate change. ... I look forward to continuing to work with President Bush and his administration in taking it forward." (Taking what forw ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, climate, George Bush, Gordon Brown, international politics, news, politics, presidential race 08, United Kingdom (all these topics) |
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Lions' Humane
Judge denies Humane Society injunction, OKs sea-lion trapping |
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17 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:41 PM on 17 Apr 2008 Denying an injunction sought by the Humane Society, a federal judge has given the go-ahead to Oregon and Washington state officials to trap and kill salmon-gobbling sea lions near the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam. The animal-rights group sued after the National Marine Fisheries Service OK'd sea-lion culling last month. An official hearing on the Humane Society lawsuit could be held as ... |
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| Topics: animal welfare, dams, endangered species, litigation, National Marine Fisheries Service, news, Oregon, Washington (all these topics) |
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Faint Nicholas
Nicholas Stern says climate change worse than he thought |
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17 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:23 AM on 17 Apr 2008 Nicholas Stern, the British economist known for a major report in which he declared that combating climate change would cost less than ignoring it, has announced that he was wrong -- about how bad the problem is. "We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change" in the Oct. 2006 report, he said in a speech Wednesday. "All of the links in the chain ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate change mitigation, news (all these topics) |
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Same as It Ever Was
Bush's unambitious climate speech bashed by other major economies |
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17 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:11 AM on 17 Apr 2008 President George W. Bush took his unambitious views and goals on climate and stuck them into one mediocre speech Wednesday. Bush called for U.S. emissions to "slow over the next decade, stop by 2025, and begin to reverse thereafter," an aim far short of what other developed countries are suggesting and what experts think is needed. He relied, as ever, on "acceler ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, George Bush, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Ew, Toxins Again?
U.S. health agency says ubiquitous chemical may harm kiddos |
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16 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:24 PM on 16 Apr 2008 A U.S. federal agency has declared that there is "some concern" that chemical bisphenol A can harm the development of children's brains and reproductive systems. The National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, issued a draft report following up on an 18-month review of BPA. The agency reported more concern than was suggested by its advisory panel, ... |
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| Topics: food, green living, health, news, parenting, politics, toxics (all these topics) |
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