Latest Articles

New Agtivist: Growing food sovereignty in the desert

In the unincorporated colonias near the borderlands of New Mexico -- an area known for its poverty and lack of infrastructure -- food activist Rebecca Wiggins-Reinhard is planting gardens and inspiring a new take on food.

President Obama and the forgotten urban agenda

Obama came to the White House promising new energy and resources for American cities. Has he lived up to that promise? And anyway, who’s paying attention?

Scientists plan to make a volcano into a generator

Scientists want to inject millions of tons of water into a volcano to harness its energy. What could possibly go wrong? NOTHING. NOTHING IS WHAT.

Critical List: Cruise ship could leak oil; Chevron rig catches fire

That capsized cruise ship in Italy could leak thousands of tons of fuel into a national maritime park. A four-lane bicycle superhighway could go up between the Swedish cities of Malmo and Lund. Rusty on your climate science? This open University of Chicago course covers climate research without getting too technical. Commercial agricultural projects in […]

Grist is now on WordPress

Notice anything different on Grist.org today?  I hope that the answer is “no”! Even though  you may not see any overt changes, today was relaunch day at Grist.  We turned off our old site, and turned on a new, WordPress-based version. What we’ve done is known as a “port” — that is, we’ve taken the Grist […]

We’ve been working under the hood

Today, Grist is switching our publishing system. You shouldn't notice any big changes for now. But since this is technology we're dealing with here, glitches are always possible -- so help us out and let us know if you see any.

Watch an orca chase a shark out of the water

Orcas might be charismatic movie stars, but they are also killer whales. A family of beachgoers in New Zealand caught on film an orca fighting with a few sharks. One shark was so eager to get away from the whale that it beached itself in the shallow water. (That's the most interesting part of the footage, so if you've already seen Free Willy ten gazillion times, just fast-forward to 0:56.)

Beautiful struggle: Martin Luther King and the fight for the environment

On the anniversary of King's birthday, we search for common ground between those who fight to save wild places, and those fighting for their lives in the cold city streets.

Tragic death leads to energy conservation

Stray voltage can kill -- and it's costing the utility companies plenty.

Cap-and-trade scheme for whaling to be almost as popular as the other kind

Scientists proposed in the journal Nature that one way to save whales is to allow people to hunt them.