Articles by Grist staff

Roger That

Roger Mustalish, Amazon researcher and protector, answers Grist‘s questions Imagine strolling along a walkway that weaves through the treetops of a lush Amazonian cloud forest in Peru. Construction on this canopy classroom will begin this summer, thanks to Roger Mustalish and the nonprofit he runs, the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research. As InterActivist […]

Solar Eclipsed

Solar providers can’t keep up with growing demand Solar power may not yet be ready for the big time: The current spike in oil prices is causing a surge of interest in home solar, but supply of polysilicon (the stuff solar panels are made of) is unable to keep up with demand. It used to […]

We’d Do Anything for Love (But We Won’t Do That)

Republican gas-price pander disgusts even pander-lovin’ American people Hollywood producers like to say that no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people. Hollywood producers, meet Senate Republicans. Their latest gas-price gambit, coordinated by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) — a legislator who puts the “less” in “hapless” — seems to have […]

Look who’s changing the world now

Recently, contributor Deborah Schimberg had the chance to attend the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School in Oxford, England. She shares a few thoughts here.

Should we see our contaminated and warring world as cause for despair, or as a call to action? Social entrepreneurs choose the second, and big-time business is getting on board. And of the 16 award-winners recently announced by the Skoll Foundation -- which was created by former eBay president Jeff Skoll -- several had a green bent.

There was Jim Fruchterman of Benetech, who is working on several sector-changing businesses, among them a software program that will help conservation groups standardize data collection and management. And Mindy Lubber of Ceres, which helps shareholders pressure major corporations like Ford to adopt forward-looking policies. Another, Albina Ruiz of Ciudad Saludable, has worked to set up eco-enterprises in 20 cities in Peru. These folks are all addressing serious structural problems in the environmental sector with systematic, business-like methods.