Latest Articles

Pryor Restraint

Their plights gave new meaning to the phrase “appointed to the bench”: Miguel Estrada, William Myers III, and Janice Rogers Brown were among half a dozen right-wing judicial nominees that President Bush tried — and failed — to install as federal court judges. Stonewalling and filibusters by Senate Democrats consigned them to the dugout bench. […]

Parks in Reverse

National Parks Face Deterioration, Budget Shortfalls U.S. national parks are falling into serious disrepair, facing massive funding shortfalls, and being pushed to reduce services, even as another summer tourist season is about to begin. At many of the 388 national parks, monuments, and other sites overseen by the National Park Service, buildings and natural structures […]

Kenaf Already!

As Paper Use Rises, So Do Environmental Woes Remember when computers first became popular and we were told the “paperless office” was just around the corner? Turns out a company’s use of email increases its use of paper by some 40 percent. U.S. paper producers now consume 1 billion trees a year — generating 735 […]

Haiku Enough for Ya?

Our Haiku Hullabaloo fundraiser elicited hundreds of poems from creative Grist fans. We whittled the submissions down to a top 11 contenders, through a semi-scientific process involving repeated syllable counting, unabashed lobbying, and a measure of fisticuffs. (We kid — no interns were harmed in the making of this contest.) Now we need your help […]

Tirana-saurus Wrecks

Albanian Capital Faces Air-Pollution Crisis You may never have heard of Tirana, the capital city of Albania, but it falls not far behind Beijing and New Delhi on the list of the world’s most polluted cities. Hazardous emissions plague the city’s air at levels 10 times higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization, […]

Weapons of Mass. Reduction

Massachusetts Unveils Nation’s Most Stringent Mercury-Emissions Rules Today Massachusetts announced the nation’s most restrictive regs on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, putting the state way ahead of the Bush administration in addressing the problem. The rules will require four big power plants to install equipment to reduce their mercury emissions 85 percent by 2008 […]

Crop Busting

Monsanto Wins Landmark Biotech Case Against Canadian Farmer The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled in favor of biotech giant Monsanto in a case widely thought to be pivotal for the biotech industry. The court determined late last week that Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser had violated a Monsanto patent by growing the company’s herbicide-resistant canola without […]

Open-source Agriculture

Smart Breeding Holds Promise of Replacing GM Foods Imagine a technology that can produce all the benefits of biotech crops — resistance to pests and pesticides, long shelf life, rapid (or delayed) ripening, etc. — without the worries about environmental harm, corporate consolidation, and international trade wars. Some researchers believe they have discovered — or […]

The Full Vermonty

State of Vermont Endangered by Wal-Mart, Group Says The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its list of endangered historic sites yesterday, citing such imperiled landmarks as Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem Works steel plant, Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon, and the state of Vermont. Yup, the whole state. According to the trust, mega-retailer Wal-Mart’s aggressive plans for expansion […]

Audit, Shucks

U.S. Nuclear Contractors Underreporting Worker Injuries Government contractors have underreported injuries and illnesses at Hanford Nuclear Reservation and other nuclear cleanup projects for years, creating a false image of safety for their own enrichment, according to a new federal audit. The Department of Energy, responsible for overseeing cleanups at the Hanford site in southern Washington […]