Resource Center

Learn how to start your

OnlyGreen Business

Learn More

OnlyGreen News Alerts

Learn More

Home / Resource Center / Eco-News on the Net / The Grist List

Eco-News on the Net

The Grist List

How many Venezuelan soldiers does it take to change a lightbulb?
by Ashley Braun

An entire army, apparently.

El Presidente of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, put in big orders for energy efficiency when he commanded the country’s lightbulbs get swapped for CFLs. Why the power play? A drought of hydropower has the nation in energy crisis and the military armed with efficient lightbulbs, laying waste to every wasteful incandescent in their path. The troops are battling against the highest per capita energy use on the continent, but the spoils of war will ease the shift from years of being spoiled by oil.

Viva efficiency!

Via inhabitat

How the cap-and-trade controversy could lead to good clean energy policy

Job Creation Begins at Home

Banana briefs are growing on us
by Ashley Braun

Gents, if the thought of pesticides on your privates bums you out, then start thinking outside the boxer. AussieBum has gone down under to pioneer briefs that put a banana in your pants.

That’s right, these skivvies are a smoothie mix of banana tree-bark fibers, organic cotton, Lycra (cough), and an “eco friendly flavor that will keep you coming back for seconds.” Mmm ... yeah.

Hat tip to our friends at HuffPost Green. We just couldn’t pass up the op-pun-tunity.

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie

Tasting five organic French roasts leads to buzzkill

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie
by Ashley Braun

apocalypsecakes.wordpress.com

Just because the planet is turning up the heat, doesn’t mean we should get out of the kitchen.

If we’re going to be globally baking anyway, we might as well take a slice out of the life of pi pie of life while we’re at it. So go eat up this delectable recipe for Global Warming Hot Apple Pie from Apocalypse Cakes before the Senate tries something crazy ... like addressing climate change.

“Good news: it’s easy to keep your pie warm when it’s 140 degrees outside. Bad news: you’re decomposing from heat-rot.”

And while that pie’s in the oven, the recipe recommends you start searching for those sea-level-rise pool floaties. Wheee!

Banana briefs are growing on us

Cocaine addicts are snorting their way to a warmer world

Cocaine addicts are snorting their way to a warmer world
by Ashley Braun

Passetti via Flickr

You may snort at the news, but it’s the real snuff: Cocaine is hard on your sinuses, but it’s not crazy fun for the planet either. Celebs’ favorite nose candy is knocking down rainforest in party favor of coca plants, thus speeding up climate change.

In fact, “for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square meters of rainforest is destroyed.” That’s hard to take. Why don’t users drop the bad habit and drink cocaine or hit up some killer cheese instead?

Banana briefs are growing on us

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie

Is ‘Birdemic’ the best/worst apocalyptic thriller of all time?
by Ashley Braun

If it weren’t for some seriously nom-nom-y green Oscar noms, I’d be either A.) extremely embarrassed or B.) extremely pumped about the future of enviro films after watching the trailer for “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” Or both.

What do you have to dread look forward to if you catch this latest internet fever?

“Woefully inept actors driv[ing] around in a blue Mustang for what seems like eternity while occasionally fumbling their way through a few lines about Global Warming while poorly animated .gif-birds float motionlessly and make terrible screeching noises.”

—Alex Blagg, blogger/sucker who actually watched the whole thing.

Well? Don’t be a birdbrain, flock to the theaters to see what’s sure to be a cult hit! And, of course, have your hangers at the ready.

Banana briefs are growing on us

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie

What to do when haters diss livable communities
by Ashley Braun

Haters gonna hate. Click to see him walk it out, for realz.Omar Noory, http://thisisallido.com/work.html

We can’t be certain, but we’re pretty sure this comic is commentary on a recent heated exchange between the Secretary of Transportation and a certain Missouri senator who be hatin’ on sidewalks and “livability”:

“When did it become the responsibility of the federal DOT (Department of Transportation) to build sidewalks?”

1991, to be precise. If haters gonna hate, just put on your Happy Feet and walk it out.

(Hat tip to Kevin Buist’s blog on the image.)

How many Venezuelan soldiers does it take to change a lightbulb?

Banana briefs are growing on us

Supermarket medleys are a fruit-smashing success
by Ashley Braun

The world may be a vicious place, but that doesn’t mean we can’t all pear up to make it a cherry-er place. “Look at what’s in your cart, then look at what’s in your heart.”

Who knows? We all might eat our fruits and veggies more often if we could squish ‘em together in organic musical movements like this one:

This fruit salad brought to you by Improv Everywhere. Watch Grist’s video interview with the group’s founder, Charlie Todd.

Banana briefs are growing on us

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie

Peepoo bags help the developing world take off a load
by Ashley Braun

A rotting Peepoo: what a load of crap.Photo: Sustainable sanitation via FlickrWhen poor people don’t have a loo, They pee and poo wherever it’s easy to, But it’s gross for them and the planet too. So Peepoople invented a biodegradable loo. It’s a little bag for doing numbers one and two, And after they planted it, they saw that it grew Tasty food for people to chaw and chew. Don’t sweat bad microbes on the doo-doo. This potty bag zaps them right off too. So if you can’t find a potty, get a clue, And pick up and plant the nearest PeePoo.

Banana briefs are growing on us

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie

A rich guy’s guide to saving the oceans
by Ashley Braun

To save the oceans (A checklist)

Be heir to a vast fortune Be named David Get a “green” boat Sail around the world to promote education and awareness about dismal ocean health Remind everyone you’re on a boat, Mother Earth, don’t you ever forget! Challenge other heir David sailing around world in support of oceans to a duel of boat awesomeness. Or heir apparent hotness.

David Rockefeller Jr. sails Around the Americas for ocean awareness. No nautical-themed pashmina afghan necessary.

Photos: aroundtheamericas.org

Versus David de Rothschild and his drive, er, sail to bottleneck plastic pollution on Plastiki, the water vessel made of plastic water vessels:

Photos: Plastiki via Flickr

Banana briefs are growing on us

Breakthrough polymers promise versatile, immortal plastics—a good thing

What climate scientists aren’t telling us
by Ashley Braun

They’re secretly unicycling jugglers!

Turns out you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do it, though—just a climate scientist.

At least that’s the case for NASA climate modeler Gavin Schmidt, who, after he’s done juggling data to pin down atmospheric changes, likes to space out by tossing pins and balls into the atmosphere. How’d he get started? Back in high school, Schmidt decided he Goddard pick up juggling to pick up the ladies.

How’d that work out for him? You can see he’s still clowning around:

Get more on the Secret Life of Scientists over at PBS.org.

Banana briefs are growing on us

A recipe for delish disaster: global warming hot apple pie