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WHO says dirty air and water kill 13 million people a year, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: OK, We’re Moving to Iceland Don’t Count Your Hatchery Salmon Before They Hatch, or Even After Buffalo and Behold How Much CO2 Does a Kegger Emit? Johnson Pussyfoots Yellow Jersey Optional Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: The Talk of the […]

We’ll Give You the Shirt Off Our Back

Grist fundraiser wraps up, still needs your help It’s almost time to hang up our summer fundraising efforts — and we’re so clothes to our goal we can practically taste it. That’s why we’re asking for your help one more time, and why we’re offering a colorful Grist T-shirt to the first 50 people who […]

Yeah, Right, and Pluto’s Not a Planet

Research team says Amazon River is longer than the Nile Every so often, a news story comes along that is so astonishing, so monumental, that it shakes the foundations of everything you hold dear, leading you to question fundamental truths. This … is not one of those stories, but it’s interesting nonetheless. A team of […]

North Pacific Fishery Management Council protects seafloor habitat areas in Bering Sea

It's official -- and unanimous. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to ban bottom trawling of some 180,000 square miles of previously unexploited ocean floor in the Bering Sea, particularly in the North.

The area is home to 26 species of marine mammals, including whales and walruses, as well as 450 species of fish and million of seabirds that flock to the region from all seven continents.

Starter Kit Your Engines!

It’s not too late to win a chance at a Grist green-living kit Perhaps you’ve noticed that we’ve been raising money over the last week or so. If you’ve already given, many thanks. If not, we shall now attempt to bribe you with shiny baubles. Hey! Look over there! It’s a shiny metal canteen! And […]

Yellow Jersey Optional

City of Paris to begin bike-sharing program Ah, Paris. The sex tape! The jail time! Wait, wait … wrong Paris. Ahem. The croissants! The berets! The phallic tower! And now: the free bikes! By mid-July, 10,648 bicycles will show up in 750 stations across The City of Love, allowing riders to pick them up and […]

As If Trees Didn’t Have Enough to Worry About

As landowners age, future of family-owned forests in U.S. is unclear An interesting phenomenon is sprouting up among American landowners — or forest-owners, to be precise. Nearly 60 percent of U.S. forests are privately owned, most by families and individuals, the majority of whom are 55 years old and older. More often than not, aging […]

Birds of a Feather Decline Together

Common American bird populations have dropped sharply Populations of 20 common American bird species have declined by at least half in the last 40 years, according to a new analysis from the Audubon Society. Hard-hit species include the whippoorwill, meadowlark, common tern, field sparrow, ruffed grouse and — our favorite to say — common grackle. […]

Bill of Fights

In exclusive blog post, Kerry calls for energy progress and laments GOP roadblocks Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) swung by our blog Gristmill yesterday to post about the ongoing tussle in the Senate over a bill intended to reform the U.S. energy system. He and his allies are pushing for 20 percent of U.S. electricity to […]

Washington watersheds deserve better data

Water-typing is the name for a process of identifying and cateorizing streams, lakes, and wetlands in terms of their importance for biodiversity and human use. It's a pretty basic inventory developed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources in the 1970s, and it works, but only when it's done right.

The accompanying image shows what happens when it's done wrong. In January, this important habitat for fish was logged without any protection simply because the map was in error: it failed to show that this stream supported fish. Normally, this sort of waterway would have at least received a 58 foot buffer. An important regional group, the Wild Fish Conservancy (the author of the photo), has demonstrated that the original maps underestimate the actual miles of fish-bearing streams statewide by up to 50 percent!