Latest Articles

Papua Goes the Weasels

Papua New Guinea islanders filed suit yesterday in San Francisco against a London-based mining company, Rio Tinto PLC, over environmental and human rights abuses, acting under a federal law that allows foreign nationals to bring lawsuits in the U.S. against companies accused of violating international law. The suit claims that Rio Tinto broke laws by […]

Pour Some Sugar on Me

Historically adversarial players in the Everglades restoration effort joined forces yesterday to support a plan working its way through Congress. Florida’s sugar industry, a number of environmental groups, the office of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), and South Florida’s water utilities announced their backing for a plan that passed the Senate Environment and Public Works […]

Sorry, Charlie-san

The U.S. and 18 other nations attending a meeting this week on migratory fish approved a plan on Tuesday to create a commission to regulate tuna catches in the Pacific Ocean, but Japan is threatening to ignore any new regulations. Pacific tuna populations are not yet endangered, but backers of the plan say new rules […]

Rodham, Cowgirl!

The Sierra Club endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) yesterday in the hotly contested race to represent New York in the Senate. The move is viewed as a setback for Clinton’s opponent, Rep. Rick Lazio (R), who won the group’s endorsement in his 1996 House race and fought hard to win it this time. Enviros have […]

Didn't They Ever Read the Cherry Orchard?

Russian enviros are concerned that President Vladimir Putin is sacrificing environmental protection in pursuit of economic growth. Their biggest complaint is that Putin transferred the powers of the State Committee on Environmental Protection, the country’s equivalent of the U.S. EPA, to the Ministry of Natural Resources, whose role up to now has been to authorize […]

Lactose Tolerant

Stonyfield Farm Inc., a New Hampshire-based yogurt company, is launching a new national print ad campaign that aims to promote environmental and social causes as well as its own cultured dairy products. Gary Hirschberg, president and chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, calls the campaign concept “ad-tivism,” a combination of advertising and activism. The new ads […]

Arsenal and Old Laws

The U.S. government’s reliance in the 1940s and 1950s on a large network of private plants, mills, and shops to build the country’s first nuclear arsenal led to huge environmental problems and major health consequences, concludes a USA Today investigation. The government knew that the hundreds of contractors were ill-prepared for the hazards of handling […]

Kelpie Wilson, Siskiyou Regional Education Project

Kelpie Wilson is executive director of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, a grassroots network formed to protect the wild forests and rivers of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion in northwest California and southwest Oregon. Tuesday, 5 Sep 2000 CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. Well, Grist readers, you have caught me, and the Siskiyou Project, right in the midst of […]

Fighting for Poor, Oppressed Oil Conglomerates Everywhere

Texas Gov. George W. Bush announced on Friday that as president he would “empower” oil producers and welcome offshore oil and gas development off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. He says more drilling is needed in the U.S. to decrease dependence on foreign oil. Al Gore, for his part, has promised to clamp down […]

Judge Dread

A federal judge who has been presiding over a case filed against Texaco by Indians in Ecuador has a potential conflict of interest, say lawyers for the plaintiffs, who filed a motion on Friday requesting that the judge recuse himself. The suit was filed in 1993 on behalf of thousands of Ecuadoreans who say Texaco’s […]