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Conan the Solarian

Schwarzenegger’s Environmental Policies Look Good — for Now Whether you’re gleeful, woeful, incredulous, or inconsolable about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful bid for the governorship of California, your inner environmentalist may have reason to take heart. What with championing solar energy, calling for green building design, promoting air and water quality, opposing further logging in the Sierras, […]

You Can’t Hide, You’re Hybridized

Hybridization Between GM and Non-GM Plants Inevitable, Study Finds Confirming the fears of opponents of genetic modification, cross pollination between modified and wild plants cannot be prevented and could lead to the creation of hybrid “superweeds,” according to Britain’s first national study of how genes pass from crops to weeds. The findings differ from earlier […]

Bubble Trouble

Navy Sonar Is Causing the Bends in Marine Mammals, Report Says Sonar from navy ships appears to be giving whales and other marine mammals the bends, that infamous bane of scuba divers and other deep-sea adventurers, according to a report published in the latest edition of the journal Nature. Researchers from England and Spain found […]

Spitz-ing Mad

Attorneys General Accuse HUD of Noncompliance on Pesticide Law The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development isn’t abiding by a federal law governing pesticide use in public housing projects, according to attorneys general from 10 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Some 1.3 million families are exposed to unsafe levels of pesticides because of […]

Wheezy Does It

Even Comparatively Clean Air Could Exacerbate Asthma, Study Shows What constitutes a safe level of pollution? For children suffering from severe asthma, there might not be such a thing, according to research published in this week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a study of 271 kids under the age of […]

Nuclear Holler Costs

Nuclear Weapons Facilities Vulnerable to Terrorists, Whistleblower Says Nuclear weapons facilities in the United States are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, according to a whistleblower who recounts his tale to reporter (and Grist contributor) Mark Hertsgaard in the November issue of Vanity Fair. Until September 2001, federal employee Rich Levernier was in charge of coordinating simulated […]

Otter This World

Clark Williams-Derry, Northwest Environment Watch

Clark Williams-Derry is research director at Northwest Environment Watch, a nonprofit research and communication center that promotes sustainability in the Pacific Northwest. Monday, 6 Oct 2003 SEATTLE, Wash. I am in a completely foul mood. What on God’s so-far-still-green earth was I thinking when I agreed to do this stupid diary? Oh, that’s right, here’s […]

Check Your Fluids

Testing for Pollution in People’s Bodies Is on the Rise A new “biomonitoring” movement is taking off with the aim of measuring pollution levels in people’s bodies. Scientists are increasingly testing people’s blood, urine, and breast milk for the presence of dangerous chemicals, such as dioxins, PCBs, and DDT. Breast cancer activists in particular are […]

I’ll Take Mongolia for $1,000, Alex

Increased Mining in Mongolia Could Threaten Environment Say “Mongolia” and most people think of yaks and yurts — that is, if they think of anything. But these days, mining companies have a very different image of Mongolia: an untapped source of gold, copper, and other natural resources that can be exploited on the cheap and […]