Articles by Grist staff

Wireless Is More

Green communications technology heading to developing countries Solar-powered internet and recycled cell phones are coming to a developing country near you. Internet access is widely heralded as a tool with the potential to transform the lives of low-income people, but construction of a wired network to remote villages is often prohibitively expensive. Enter the Green […]

They Should Eat Their Spinach

Iron-deficient phytoplankton don’t absorb as much CO2, study finds Phytoplankton’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide is hindered by a lack of iron in their diet, according to a study in Nature. Climate models have estimated that phytoplankton in the world’s oceans have absorbed about 55 billion tons of carbon dioxide, but the new research suggests […]

Off-Off-Road

New National Park Service guidelines will emphasize conservation Today, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne will announce new National Park Service management guidelines that emphasize … wait for it … conservation. Wha-huh? The new regulations more or less disregard revisions proposed a year ago under previous Interior Secretary Gale Norton that would have expanded motorized recreation; instead, […]

California Dreamy

California will shrink greenhouse-gas emissions under groundbreaking plan In arguably the biggest step ever taken in the U.S. to fight global warming, California’s political leaders reached a deal yesterday to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the state 25 percent by 2020. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) pledged to sign Assembly Bill 32, under which the California Air […]