Grist will not be publishing on Monday, May 31, in observance of Memorial Day. The hijinks and hilarity you count on will return on Tuesday. See you then!

Enviro Groups Kick Off Sustainable-Community Plans in Lisbon A coalition of enviro groups is planning an ambitious project to build small, sustainable communities in cities around the globe, starting in Lisbon, Portugal. The World Wildlife Fund and U.K. development group BioRegional hope the communities will demonstrate that sustainable development is possible with today's resources. The project will include five communities, each housing around 5,000 people, including residential, work, and leisure facilities -- the first, to be built near Lisbon, is set to cost about $1.2 billion and cover roughly 13,000 acres. All energy in the settlements will come from renewable …

Green RVs Are Not an Oxymoron When you see a school-bus-sized RV trundling down the road, "eco-friendly" is not the first thought that comes to mind. Surely these beasts are guzzling gas and trailing pollution? Not necessarily so, says a small and growing group of enviros. Even without modifications, an RV dweller uses less energy that an average house dweller, since there is less space to heat or cool (and RVs often travel with the seasons to kinder temperatures), the owner is more directly in touch with the waste cycle (we'll leave it at that), and the vehicles are often …

Bush Salmon Decision Irritates Both Enviros and Property-Rights Backers There's a flurry of news today about salmon, which are getting more press of late than the Olsen twins. On the left coast, federal officials announced today that not only will all wild West Coast salmon species retain their protected status under the Endangered Species Act, but that status will be extended to another Columbia River stock. At the same time, they argued that hatchery salmon can play an important role in restoring salmon stocks, a point that many biologists vehemently dispute. The announcement -- which capped a month of backpedaling …

Bush May Ease Environmental Restrictions on Gasoline The Bush administration is responding to higher gas prices by considering a loosening of environmental requirements for a variety of gasoline blends. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans suggested yesterday that such a move could lower gas prices, noting that refineries in some parts of the U.S. are required to produce more than a dozen different varieties of gasoline to help combat specific pollution problems. He said the administration is worried about the impact gas prices are having on the economy and argued that if people are driving less they might be spending less at …

Louisiana Governor Recognizes Multiple Chemical Sensitivities A mysterious and controversial disease linked to chemical exposure is a step closer to official recognition and treatment. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) recently signed a proclamation designating May "Chemical Sensitivity Awareness Month," a move that heartened those who suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. MCS, also called environmental illness, is a poorly catalogued and understood ailment, with symptoms that vary widely from person to person. It's reportedly due to exposure to the chemicals that are ubiquitous in modern life: pesticides, petroleum products, even household cleaners and perfumes. The medical community is divided over the …

USDA Rescinds Controversial Changes to Organic Standards The USDA announced yesterday that it will rescind changes to organic food standards made last month that would have cleared the way for use of antibiotics on organic dairy farms, toxic pesticides on organic fields, and more. The changes -- first reported in Grist (ahem) -- prompted a wave of protest from many organic farmers, though not from some agribusiness conglomerates that want to rake in a bigger share of the booming $11 billion-a-year organic-food market. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced the reversal, citing "a tremendous amount of interest" and public concern in …

National Parks Face Deterioration, Budget Shortfalls U.S. national parks are falling into serious disrepair, facing massive funding shortfalls, and being pushed to reduce services, even as another summer tourist season is about to begin. At many of the 388 national parks, monuments, and other sites overseen by the National Park Service, buildings and natural structures are crumbling, trails and roads are in bad shape, and sewer and electrical systems need replacing. According to the General Accounting Office, the maintenance backlog in the park system amounts to between $4 billion and $6.8 billion worth of needed repairs. Though President Bush vowed …

As Paper Use Rises, So Do Environmental Woes Remember when computers first became popular and we were told the "paperless office" was just around the corner? Turns out a company's use of email increases its use of paper by some 40 percent. U.S. paper producers now consume 1 billion trees a year -- generating 735 pounds of paper for every American -- and demand is rising. Only 5 percent of U.S. virgin forests remain, but 70 percent of the fiber consumed by the pulp-and-paper industry comes from virgin wood. The situation is equally grim around the world: Deforestation is rampant; …

Our Haiku Hullabaloo fundraiser elicited hundreds of poems from creative Grist fans. We whittled the submissions down to a top 11 contenders, through a semi-scientific process involving repeated syllable counting, unabashed lobbying, and a measure of fisticuffs. (We kid -- no interns were harmed in the making of this contest.) Now we need your help to whittle it down to the single winningest haiku of all. Make your voice heard!