Articles by Grist staff

Don Shaffer, local-biz promoter and green skateboard entrepreneur, answers questions

Don Shaffer. What work do you do? I’m executive director of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies and co-owner of Comet Skateboards. What does your organization do? BALLE is a growing alliance of more than 5,400 entrepreneurs and small-business owners from across the U.S. and Canada who are dedicated to building Local Living Economies, […]

And the Sand Played On

World’s deserts will become more desert-y, says U.N. Happy World Environment Day — we got you some bad news! As climate change progresses, desert temperatures will rise up to 12.6 degrees F by the end of the century; rainfall in most deserts will decline by up to 20 percent; water will become scant, or too […]

Wining and Declining

Global warming screwing up wine country Bad news for oenophiles: Global warming is messing with wine country. Wine grapes are highly temperature-sensitive, and if the globe gets much hotter (which smart folks say it will), famed wine-producing regions like France’s Burgundy and California’s Napa Valley may lose optimum climate for their grape varieties. Already, warmer […]

Cold Rush

Greens worry as countries scurry to set up camp in Antarctica Several dozen countries have set up camps and research stations in Antarctica, giving greens short-term fears that development will damage fragile ecosystems and long-term fears that the continent will soon be pillaged for oil, gas, and minerals. A 1959 Antarctic Treaty declares Earth’s driest, […]