Latest Articles

Good clean fun: Can green gadgets replace the washing machine?

Grist's green-living pioneer, the Greenie Pig, tries her hand -- literally -- at skipping the resource-guzzling washer and dryer.

Stuffing the ground full of toxic fluid turns out to be a bad idea

A new report from ProPublica estimates the extent to which wastewater wells are leaking across the country – often due to operator error.

Newly discovered mushroom is actually a rubber vagina

Well here’s a story that sounds like an urban legend: Villagers in China unearthed a mysterious plant that they thought might be some type of mushroom. It’s described as “fleshy and meaty,” with “something that looks like lips” at one end, and on the other end there’s a hole with a shaft in between and […]

Colorado Springs probably didn’t need to worry about demand for wind power

The city's small initial contract for wind power is quickly snatched up by consumers.

Finally, a good use for drones: Catching poachers

Conservationists are taking a page from the U.S. government in the fight against poaching — they’re sending in the drones. Already in use in Indonesia and soon to be in the air in Nepal, the drones can monitor protected areas where endangered species are hanging out. If they see a poacher, they leap into action. […]

Flock of 5,000 ducks stops traffic in city of 6 million people

Taizhou lies 190 miles south of Shanghai and has 6 million people, putting its size at “somewhere in between Los Angeles and New York City” on a U.S. scale and “just some town” on a Chinese one. One day recently, though, the streets were filled not with cars, scooters, or pedestrians, but with ducks. Thousands […]

The best pun about wind energy, you’re welcome

This made me laugh way, way harder than it should.

Today in weather events that are clearly not related to climate change

What could be causing all of these wildfires, floods, and heat waves? We may never know. It's not global warming, though. We know that.

Bye bye bumblebee: Honeybees aren’t the only pollinators in danger

The honeybee calamity has overshadowed the distressing fate of their native cousins, whose disappearance threatens the future of nearly every blooming wild plant.

NYC’s first day of summer: White hot, hungry for power

Temperatures on the east coast are spiking – and so is electricity usage. Take a sneak peek at the future.