Latest Articles

Sea Minus

It’s an ocean of trouble out there — such were the conclusions of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which issued an interim report today at the halfway-point of an 18-month study of ocean health and marine resources. So far, the commission has found that about 40,000 acres of coastal wetlands in the U.S. are […]

Koh Chang: Ka-ching!

One by one, Thailand’s tropical islands have been overrun by the tourism industry and all but gutted by unbridled, profit-driven development. Now the nation’s impoverished government has its eye on the last large piece of unspoiled land: idyllic Koh Chang Island. This time, though, the government promises it will use proper zoning, strict regulations on […]

Wayne Lasuen, Student Conservation Association

Wayne Lasuen is a campus recruiter for the Student Conservation Association. Monday, 23 Sep 2002 ST. PAUL, Minn. Everyone who grows up in a small town — in my case, Mountain Home, Idaho — dreams of going elsewhere, but most people just stay put. To make matters worse, those who stick around get jealous of […]

El Smog

Mexico City declared its first pollution alert in almost three years yesterday, when ozone levels in the famously smoggy city reached about 250 percent of acceptable levels. The alert resulted in some 350,000 cars being ordered off the city streets. That’s a lot, but it’s far fewer than the nearly half of the city’s estimated […]

Acting Up

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it plans to consider new rules for enforcing the Clean Water Act. Some conservative lawmakers have been pressuring the administration to revise the enforcement rules since January 2001, when the Supreme Court imposed new limits on the scope of the act. Some interpreted that court ruling to suggest that […]

Deaf Charges

In better news for environmentalists, a federal judge has rejected an effort by the White House and the U.S. Navy to exempt underwater military testing and other deep-sea activities from environmental review. Judge Christina Snyder ruled yesterday that the National Environmental Policy Act applies to such activities even if they are conducted beyond U.S. territorial […]

Bowl Game

In an effort to reconcile the problems posed by a growing population and shrinking water supplies, city councilors are contemplating a plan that would retrofit existing buildings with water-saving toilets. The Public Utilities Committee has recommended that the full council adopt a plan whereby builders would retrofit toilets to earn credits toward new building permits. […]

Feeling Gassy

Negotiators for the U.S. House and Senate have reached an agreement on new fuel-economy rules that would expand rather than decrease the country’s oil consumption. Under the agreement, automakers would continue to receive credits through the model year 2008 for manufacturing vehicles that can run on both ethanol and gasoline. These credits are used to […]

Umbra on environmentally friendly communities, again

Dearest Readers, In my last column, I received a plea from James “Captain Planet” Fitzpatrick of Florida, a firefighter looking to relocate to a small, friendly, environmentally conscious mountain community with good schools, reasonably clean air and water, and no polluting companies or toxic waste sites. As this was obviously a job for discerning Grist […]

Umbra on killing your lawn

Dear Umbra, I just moved into a house with a large backyard. I would like to xeriscape 90 percent of it, but I must first learn how to kill and remove the grass. I’m not a fan of chemicals and would like to find an alternate solution. Most of the yard is very, very brown […]