Articles by Tom Philpott
Tom Philpott was previously Grist's food writer. He now writes for Mother Jones.
All Articles
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Another study says cellulosic ethanol ain’t happening
As the case against corn-based ethanol firms up, we’re hearing a drumbeat of claims that corn is only a bridge to a bright cellulosic future. In this vision, ethanol won’t be distilled from corn grown on prime land but rather from stuff no one wants: plant “wastes,” wood pulp, prairie grass, pocket lint. The latest […]
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The WaPo reveals why mass transit gets the shaft on the national level
I have a couple of things to add about the Washington Post article pointed to by Ryan Avent in his smart recent post about mass transit. The article, by Lyndsey Layton and Spencer S. Hsu, is a superb and important piece of work, but it’s maddeningly written; it buries key and even shocking information. The […]
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With global wheat stocks at all-time lows, a killer fungus looms
Remember awhile back, when a fertilizer magnate raised the specter of global famine? He said: If you had any major upset where you didn’t have a crop in a major growing agricultural region this year, I believe you’d see famine … We need to have a record crop in 2008 just to stay even with […]
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Defying conventional wisdom, NC residents express desire for public transport
Photo: Roadsidepictures You know that old saw about how greens should shut up about public transportation because Americans hate trains and insist on getting around in their own private chunks of resource-sucking steel and plastic? Well, that may be going the way of $2/gallon gas. Get this, from a recent poll of North Carolina residents: […]
