Articles by Grist staff

Gregg Small, director of the Washington Toxics Coalition, answers questions

Gregg Small. What’s your job title? Executive director of the Washington Toxics Coalition. What does your organization do? WTC works to protect human health and the environment from the impacts of toxic pollution. What are you working on at the moment? Photo: iStockphoto A top priority right now is our Pollution in People Project. For […]

To Everything, Tern, Tern, Tern

Buzzards Bay wind farm faces tough obstacles Amidst the hype over the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, developer Jay Cashman unveiled a proposal to erect up to 120 wind turbines in nearby Buzzards Bay. But a recent report by Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs Stephen Pritchard concludes that Cashman’s project would violate state law […]

Damned If … OK, Just Damned

CFC alternatives contribute to global warming When signatories to the 1989 Montreal Protocol phased out ozone-depleting, heat-trapping chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in foams and refrigerants, most replaced them with more-ozone-friendly-but-still-heat-trapping hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Too bad: HCFCs and HFCs will add the equivalent of 2 billion to 3 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere by […]

Yes, Virginia, There Is Global Warming

Va. governor asks climate skeptic to avoid state climatologist title Patrick Michaels is a noted skeptic about global warming, cited frequently in the mainstream press and funded amply by fossil-fuel interests. He goes by the title of “Virginia state climatologist.” That makes the commonwealth of Virginia uncomfortable, apparently, and it seems determined to distance itself […]