Latest Articles

But, Hey, the Home of Baywatch Can't Be All Bad

Water and air pollution and increasing pesticide use are raising the rates of cancer, asthma, and other health problems in California, particularly among children, poor city dwellers, and farm workers, according to a report released yesterday by an environmental health advocates group. The Environmental Health Policy Alliance, formed last year to advise California Gov. Gray […]

Assault With Batteries

Russia is building floating nuclear stations to bring cheap power to remote locations, but Russian enviros say the units will be accident-prone, waterborne “Chernobyls” that will make easy targets for terrorists. The stations will serve as huge atomic batteries moored off coastlines, each providing enough power for a town of 50,000. Construction has begun on […]

Nader's Zenith

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader on Monday will announce his candidacy for president under the banner of the Green Party, which has a progressive, anti-corporate agenda in addition to an emphasis on environmental issues. Nader ran as the Green nominee in 1996 and got 684,902 votes, including 2 percent of the vote in California. Some lefties […]

Concession Stand

Vice President Al Gore has privately assured organized labor that as president he would seek additional environmental and labor concessions before moving ahead on a trade deal with China, if President Clinton loses his fight this year for a China deal, according to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Gore campaign spokesperson Chris Lehane affirmed that Gore […]

On the Rocks

The Earth has been gradually warming over at least the last 500 years, with the trend accelerating markedly during the 20th century, according to a new study published in the journal Nature, based on temperature data from underground rocks. Since 1500, the Earth’s temperature has increased by about one degree Celsius, with half that increase […]

Zed, last of his species, in "Quo Valentine?"

Is Kyoto Dead?

Is Kyoto dead? Grist readers cast their votes after reading a recent debate between Dan Lashof and David Victor. The results were evenly split, right down the middle. Optimism ran higher among younger observers. The “alive” contingent would have won had we included the votes of a high-school biology class in Boston that was asked […]

Mercury Falling

1,931 advisories have been issued by state and local governments telling the public to limit consumption of fish caught in local water bodies due to mercury contamination 1 mercury-containing home fever thermometer can contaminate a 20-acre lake with enough mercury to provoke a fish consumption warning $3 – $5 is the extra cost of purchasing […]

A plea to save one of America's great rivers

For more than 25 years, the Missouri River has been like a member of my family. Whether we were backpacking the Lolo Trail in Idaho, camping at Lemhi Pass on the Montana border, or canoeing through one of many thunderstorms, the Missouri River has brought my wife, children, and me together in more ways than […]

Super Grover

Pres. Clinton is considering creating a new national monument in California that would protect more than 30 giant sequoia groves across 300,000 to 400,000 acres of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range. Yesterday Clinton asked Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman to review the status of the groves, which lie within the Sequoia National Forest, and recommend whether […]