Articles by Grist staff

The Biggest Loser

Feds to lose at least $20 billion in oil-company royalties, report finds Remember that outrageous story about how oil companies are going to gank U.S. taxpayers out of some $7 billion in royalties for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? Well, time to crank up the outrage-o-meter: Turns out, based on a new report from […]

Labor Rattling

Britain will likely miss target for slashing greenhouse-gas emissions For years, Tony Blair and his Labor Party have waved the climate-change flag, proclaiming danger and pledging to reduce Britain’s greenhouse-gas emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. All very inspiring, except for the whole not-actually-doing-it thing. Yesterday, after an 18-month climate-change policy review, Environment […]

The power is yours

Interested in how governments make the tough call between environmental risks and consumer costs when it comes to energy generation? Wish you could be in on those decisions? Now you can! Sorta.

Check out the BBC's energy calculator, which lets you (hypothetically) adjust the UK's energy use -- whether from nukes, fossil fuels, or renewables -- and find out the potential impact. Once your calculations meet projected UK needs for 2020, you can submit your choices, which the BBC will tally and analyze for trends.

Think it'll be as easy as reducing demand and increasing renewables to 100 percent? Not so easy when you see how much that'll raise costs -- for everyone, including low-income families already struggling to pay for electricity. So how would you keep the UK's lights on in 2020, if you had the power?

What will an Atlanta parks project mean for low-income residents?

Atlanta is embarking on a massive redevelopment project to transform a mostly unused railroad into a 22-mile, in-town loop of walking trails, bike paths, public transit, and more than 1,200 acres of parks. Sounds great. But Atlanta activist Na'Taki Osborne worries that for the city's poor and moderate-income residents, there might be a catch.