Skip to content
Grist home
Support nonprofit news today

Articles by Lisa Hymas

Lisa Hymas is director of the climate and energy program at Media Matters for America. She was previously a senior editor at Grist.

All Articles

  • Italy jumps on the SUV-bashing bandwagon

    Europeans don't take as kindly to mobile global-warmers as do their American counterparts.  Latest country to join in the anti-SUV backlash:  Italy.  The nation's Environment Ministry is plotting to slap a new tax on big gas-guzzlers, and possibly use the funds to incentivize people to scrap old cars and buy more efficient ones, Reuters reports.

  • What eco-questions would you pose at Friday’s debate?

    The Sierra Club has crafted eight queries it would like to see Bush and Kerry hit with during Friday's town-hall-style debate, and it's asking you to vote on the best.  Currently top in the running:  "The Russian government recently announced that it will put the international global-warming treaty into effect by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. The current administration has pulled the United States out of the agreement, even though this country accounts for 25 percent of the world's global warming pollution. How will the United States do their part to curb global warming and stabilize the global climate?"

    Meanwhile, a whole gaggle of earth-loving folks -- from reverends and union types to bigwig scientists and a former head of the CIA -- are petitioning [PDF] the Commission on Presidential Debates and the moderators of the two upcoming debates to "include questions about the candidates' plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting clean energy and clean vehicle technologies as urgent matters of both domestic and foreign policy."

  • Reagan enviro official still running afoul of the law

    Rita Lavelle, who ran the Superfund program during the Reagan years and was locked up for lying to Congress about it, may be headed to the slammer once again. On Monday, a federal jury convicted her of scheming to defraud a client who hired her consulting firm to clean up a toxic work site in Los Angeles, the L.A. Times reports. She faces 15-24 months in the clink. Old habits die hard, it seems.  

    (Feeling nostalgic? Check out a fun recap of enviro doings during the Gipper's reign.)

  • An interview with Joseph Romm on becoming a cool company

    Joseph Romm is director of the nonprofit Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, which helps businesses reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In 1997, he served as assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy at the Energy Department.