Articles by Grist staff

Situation Normal, All Ducked Up

Feds won’t make livestock-identification plan mandatory Surprising exactly no one, a federal plan to track all U.S. livestock with ID tags remains controversial with farmers. Surprising some, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has given up on making it mandatory. Intended to trace disease and to combat — wait for it — agroterrorism, the National Animal […]

Terminal Killness

City officials’ reluctance may halt LNG terminal in Long Beach, Calif. The debate over a $700 million liquefied-natural-gas terminal in Long Beach, Calif., may be coming to an end. City officials have long been squeamish about the proposed facility due to its proximity to the urban center. “It’s a risk for accident and terrorist attack, […]

We’ll Be In the Fallout Shelter

Regional nuclear war could create catastrophic global cooling, say scientists Not fully convinced that a nuclear war would suck? Perhaps this will do the trick: Scientists are reviving the “nuclear winter” fears of the 1980s, portending that even a small, regional nuke kerfuffle could trigger a devastating global cooling. Advanced computer models show that thick […]

Can U.S. corn farmers fill both bellies and tanks?

The boom in corn-based ethanol seems like good news for farmers, who suddenly face growing demand for their crop. But is there enough corn to go around? And will surging demand mean surging prices for consumers? Tom Philpott addresses the food vs. fuel debate in today's Victual Reality column, and Yolanda Crous talks to a farmer in Missouri who's an ethanol co-op board member. Also, as a wee digestif, we bring you a rundown of celebrity biofuels hitting the shelves soon. (OK, we completely made them up. What can we say -- two weeks of biofuels coverage would leave you a little punchy too.)