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Withering drought still plaguing half of America
Posted by Grist: None Given on April 5th, 2013
Grist: The $50 billion drought that bedeviled the country last summer - the worst since the Dust Bowl of the 1930's - still has its fingers around half the country. And if predictions are to be believed, it’s only going to get worse for many in the coming months.
Weekly drought figures released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a joint project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the USDA, and several other government and academic partners, show the situation has worsened slightly...
Community thrives along a nearly forgotten slice of an urban river
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 29th, 2013
Grist: On the equinox, March 20, a mostly forgotten sliver of a city neighborhood, where Goldeneyes and Coots fly low and fast along the river, the stalks of last season’s brush still steeped in snow, hummed with the celebration of the season’s unfolding.
They gathered along the water’s banks, cutting back old growth, repairing paths and railings fashioned from tree branches. And when the day’s labor was done, the local chorus, calling themselves the Bullfrogs, sang songs bidding farewell to winter with...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Community thrives along a nearly forgotten slice of an urban riverPhoenix is doomed — to be a target for doomsayers
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 24th, 2013
Grist: William deBuys, author of A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest, wrote the latest screed about why Phoenix is doomed, this time in an op-ed article in Grist, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. The best-known previous blast was Andrew Ross’ 2011 book Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City. As a lifelong resident of Phoenix, author of the book Phoenix in Perspective, and a frequent commentator on our desert city, I have had the...
Let’s count the ways Keystone approval helps us
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 23rd, 2013
Grist: So, why do we want President Obama and Secretary John Kerry to approve construction of the Keystone pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico?
* Because it will allow Canada to double and then triple production of tar sands and send it to thirsty Asian consumers.
* Because it will encourage Wall Street to increase investment in tar-sands mining; they`re worried now that increased amounts of tar sands can`t get out of Canada without more pipeline capacity. All the other new pipeline routes...
Keystone XL clears big hurdle, gets thumbs-up from State Dept. report
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 1st, 2013
Grist: The U.S. State Department just released a draft environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline, and it`s not what climate activists have been hoping for.
As The New York Times puts it, the report "makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be." According to The Washington Post, the report "suggest[s] that blocking the project would not have a significant impact on either the future development of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL clears big hurdle, gets thumbs-up from State Dept. reportKeystone XL protest, live from Washington DC
Posted by Grist: None Given on February 17th, 2013
Grist: Here’s a live stream of Sunday’s “Forward on Climate” rally on the National Mall:
A chat with the Sierra Club’s Michael Brune about civil disobedience
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 28th, 2013
Grist: Earlier this month, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune announced that the Club would, for the first time in its long and storied history, officially participate in an act of civil disobedience - i.e., break the law. The target? The Keystone XL pipeline. "For civil disobedience to be justified, something must be so wrong that it compels the strongest defensible protest," he wrote. "Such a protest, if rendered thoughtfully and peacefully, is in fact a profound act of patriotism."
I called...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A chat with the Sierra Club’s Michael Brune about civil disobedienceKeeping a growing Austin green — and weird — is no easy task
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 11th, 2013
Grist: A few months ago, an Austin writer took to the pages of the New York Times to fret about the fate of his city. Austin, it seems, is getting too big for its famously weird britches. Not too long ago, an older gentleman fond of wearing high heels and a thong in public ran for mayor three times, Richard Parker wrote. Now, Austin has a Grand Prix racing track, restaurants teeming with celebrities, and yuppies crowding out families.
“[I]n the wake of the Armstrong debacle, it’s hard not to think that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keeping a growing Austin green — and weird — is no easy taskRick Santorum and Mitt Romney are both bad news for climate change fight
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 4th, 2012
Grist: Rick Santorum, who surged at the last minute to give Mitt Romney a real run for his money in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, is less green than his rival, and decidedly nuttier when it comes to climate change. But let's not split hairs here. Both men will staunchly defend fossil fuels, and neither is likely to do much of anything to fight global warming.
Mitt Romney has expressed qualified concern about climate change over the years, and then vacillated about how much of it is human-caused and whether...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney are both bad news for climate change fightWhat does the Bible have to say about climate change?
Posted by Grist: None Given on December 22nd, 2010
Grist: With the collapse of last year's international climate talks in Copenhagen and the resurgence of the Republican Party here in the United States, many observers have begun to doubt whether the world will ever be able to agree on a framework to fight global climate change. Believing that progress is possible, they say, may take a leap of faith.
And that's exactly what some religious groups are offering.
With the holidays around the corner, The Climate Desk Podcast decided to take a closer look...