Today, Grist launched brand new author blogs.  Ok, ok, I know -- it's sort of odd that Grist didn't have proper blog-like destination pages for our great writers before this, but hey ... now we do!  These pages are a great way to keep tabs on your favorite Grist author, follow them on twitter (or read their tweets right on the page), subscribe to their feeds and otherwise fanboy/girl them.  So where are these pages?  For now, just click on the avatar or name of your favorite author or contributor anywhere on the site, and you're there.  For example: check …

Most folks know coal mining is a dirty and dangerous business, triggering everything from miner's lung to deadly accidents. But the mountaintop-removal mining increasingly common in Appalachia poses dangers not just to miners but to whole communities already struggling to get by. In recent years, this hugely destructive process -- whereby the tops of mountains are sliced off to get at coal within, and the resulting rubble dumped in nearby streams and valleys -- has triggered lethal flooding, spurred a rash of illnesses in school kids, and even unloosed a massive boulder that tumbled down a hillside into a home …