Latest Articles

The Smog Monster

Forty-nine years ago, in November 1953, New York City was stricken with a six-day siege of air pollution so fierce that it killed or contributed to the deaths of 25 to 30 residents a day. That was before scientists really understood what was darkening the skies and choking people on the street. In some respects, […]

Critical Masses

The mention of bike rallies usually summons images of Harleys, leather, and tattoos — but not so the rally held Friday in San Francisco to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Critical Mass. Somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 riders turned out for the party, far more than normally participate in the monthly biking event to encourage […]

Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Where Did All the Protesters Go?

Nearly three years after some 20,000 anti-globalization demonstrators all but shut down the city of Seattle, a fraction of that crowd showed up to protest this weekend’s meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C. The disappointing turnout (police, of whom there were plenty, placed the numbers at between 3,000 and […]

CEO Boy!

In a rare expression of unity from an otherwise cutthroat industry, the world’s automakers pledged Friday to work together on global safety and environmental standards for cars. In a joint statement issued after an auto show in Paris, 13 industry CEOs agreed to work on promoting new technologies and better fuel quality, international standardization of […]

Everything Goes Worse With Coke

As if population pressures and the international demand for wood weren’t exacting enough of a toll on tropical ecosystems, here’s another problem: cocaine. In the last 30 years, some 5.7 million acres of Peruvian rainforest have been razed to make way for coca crops, and more than 14,800 tons of toxic chemicals used in the […]

Nepa’ed in the Bud

If you’ve been following environmental news lately (or duly reading the Daily Grist), you’ll have noticed an unusual number of stories involving the National Environmental Policy Act. The act, signed into law by President Nixon in 1970, requires all federal agencies to assess and limit the environmental impact of their activities. But the Bush administration […]

Ashes of Fire

Every year, coal-fired power plants in the U.S. produce more than 100 million tons of ash, a byproduct of the burning process containing heavy metals or metal-like substances such as boron, selenium, arsenic, and magnesium. The energy industry claims the ash is benign, but many others fear that it is bad for the environment and […]

De-railed

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has voted to deny $1.2 billion in funding to Amtrak and pushed through a bill that threatens most, if not all, long-distance train service in the U.S. The Republican-backed bill would give the rail service $760 million next year — about $500 million less than the $1.2 billion proposed by […]

Old Yeller

In better mass transit news, Yellowstone National Park is in the early stages of launching a public-transportation plan designed to cut down on air and noise pollution. Harkening back to its past, the park has reacquired a small fleet of yellow tour buses that were phased out of service in the 1950s. The park plans […]

This New House

No, it doesn’t involve skeet shooting while cross-country skiing; in the Solar Decathlon sponsored by the Department of Energy, university students are competing to design the best solar-powered home. The houses are being built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where together they will form a temporary solar village. The competing teams hail from […]