Latest Articles

Crime and No Punishment

Pollution Enforcement Has Dropped Dramatically Under Bush President Bush talks tough about going after the bad guys, but it seems he’s been letting one set of lawbreakers off the hook: polluters. Enforcement of environmental laws under Bush has been far weaker than it was under his father and under President Clinton, according to records from […]

His Park Is Bigger Than His Bite

Chile Dedicates New Nature Park on Land Purchased by Rich American Some 738,000 acres of pristine rainforest in southern Chile will get official billing as a nature sanctuary today, thanks to a deal between U.S. tycoon Doug Tompkins and the Chilean government. Tompkins, cofounder of the sportswear company Esprit, paid more than $30 million for […]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Nevada Appeals to Federal Court to Stymie Nuke Waste Site Nevada is digging in its heels and promising a bitter fight to keep the nation’s high-level nuclear waste from being shipped to an underground storage facility at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Last year, President Bush signed a bill designating the site […]

Bridge Over Bottled Water

Recycled Plastic Bridge Proves Inexpensive as Well as Eco-Friendly You may have heard of plastic bottles being recycled into fleece jackets, park benches, and, of course, more plastic bottles — but bridges? Yep; that’s one of the latest creative uses for old milk cartons, soda containers, and the like. A 56-foot-long, one-lane bridge over the […]

‘Tis Better to Give to Grist Than to Buy Dumb Stuff

Grist Has a (Slightly Self-Serving) Fix for Your Holiday Woes Holiday gift giving got you down? Feeling oppressed by teeming malls, fake pine scent, and the pressure to buy, buy, buy? Put your mind at ease — Grist can show you the way out of this madness. Instead of giving your dad another tie, and […]

David Doherty, Peace Corps in Haiti

David Doherty is a refugee from all things functional or organized. In other words, he is a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Haiti. Monday, 8 Dec 2003 CAMP PERRIN, Haiti Haitian proverb: Se pa bon pou yon moun konnen twop. “It’s not good for a person to know too much.” Today is the latest critical […]

The Grazers’ Edge

Bush Administration Wants to Roll Back Grazing Rules You’d think Bush administration officials might want to spend their Friday afternoons planning happy hours or trying to sneak out of the office early, like normal people, but no: They like to spend their Friday afternoons quietly rolling back environmental protections, hoping that the news will get […]

Yeah, I’m the Tax, Man

British Think Tank Proposes a “Kyoto Tax” for the U.S. With Europeans none too happy about the U.S. having ditched the Kyoto Protocol, a British think tank has come up with an idea for making the U.S. pay its fair share to deal with climate change: trade sanctions. The New Economics Foundation has proposed that […]

A Case of Influence-a

Enviros Say Pesticide Makers Are Illegally Influencing EPA Northwest salmon and other endangered species could suffer because pesticide manufacturers are acting illegally to weaken rules on the use of dangerous chemicals, enviros are charging. A coalition of environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club, last week warned the U.S. EPA that […]

Fres-yes!

Fresno Launches Big Solar Project Fresno, Calif., is aiming to put itself on the clean-energy map with a major new solar-power project that will be one of the largest of its kind on the West Coast. The Fresno City Council voted last week to spend $4.7 million to put solar panels on a number of […]