Latest Articles

Announcing Umbra’s latest contest

Dearest Beloved Readers, Another turn of the seasons (still four, at last count) has brought us together again on the eve of Earth Day, the moment in the sun for the environmental movement, the fifth anniversary of Grist, and the second anniversary of my ability to freely pontificate into your inbox. It’s been a nice, […]

An interview with Bush’s point person on species and parks

Craig Manson. Craig Manson is the man President Bush selected to protect America’s critters. And like many top dogs in this administration, he’s not exactly considered a good friend of the environmental community. As assistant interior secretary for fish, wildlife, and parks, Manson implements the Endangered Species Act, determines the direction of the National Park […]

Downward-facing Smog

EPA Announces New Air-Quality Standards and Offenders Today the U.S. EPA made two long-awaited announcements, the first a list of U.S. counties in violation of new, stricter air-quality standards, the second a set of rules meant to improve air quality. Both were the result of legal wrangling stretching back for years, with enviro groups suing […]

You’re Fired!

Fire Panel Says California Must Make Tough Choices Californians must choose which to protect: the developments rapidly advancing into its once-wild hinterlands, or the hinterlands themselves. So said a report released yesterday by a commission formed to develop policy recommendations in the wake of last year’s devastating wildfires in the state. While the report recommended […]

I Smell a Rat

Rat Poison Industry Had Undue Influence on EPA Regs, Say Critics Makers of rat poison were allowed to influence, and in some cases rewrite, two U.S. EPA regulatory initiatives meant to make their products safer, according to environmental and consumer-safety organizations. The first initiative was proposed by the EPA under President Clinton in 1998, when […]

Jeffords’ bid to block EPA appointments could have welcome side effects

Jeffords speaking his mind. Photo: U.S. Senate. Asserting that he was confronting “truly life-and-death matters,” Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) announced last week that as ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works he would exercise his powers to put a hold on four high-level appointments to the U.S. EPA. “I’m sorry […]

May We Suggest the Bermuda Triangle?

U.K. Ponders How to Rid Itself of Nuclear Waste The U.K. is stuck with nearly 500,000 tons of nuclear waste, which will be dangerous for 250,000 years, and it is flummoxed about what to do with it. A government commission assigned to study the problem is considering a range of options including, we kid you […]

I Guess He’d Rather Not Be in Colorado

Colorado River Is Nation’s Most Endangered, Says Group The Colorado River is the country’s most endangered river, announced enviro group American Rivers today in its annual assessment of U.S. waterways. The threats come from three sources of pollution along the river’s route. An abandoned mine just outside Moab, Utah, features a 12-million-ton pile of uranium […]

My Own Public Idaho

Improbable Coalition Proposes New Idaho Wilderness Area An unlikely coalition of ranchers, off-road vehicle enthusiasts, politicians, and environmental groups has, after years of discussion and negotiation, united to propose the first new federal wilderness area in Idaho in more than 20 years. The official wilderness designation would give 511,000 acres of land in and around […]

Live at the Apollo

Renewable-Energy Push Would Create Heaps of Jobs, Study Says Federal policies favorable to renewable energy could yield up to 240,000 jobs by 2020 nationwide, whereas continued focus on new fossil-fuel development would yield only some 80,000 jobs, according to a new study by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley. The research was released […]