Articles by Grist staff

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.

Let My People Flow

Water privatization falling out of favor The privatization of water systems took off globally in the ’80s and ’90s; now it seems to be going the way of ankle zippers and acid-washed denim. At last week’s World Water Forum, delegates voted to issue a decree supporting government responsibility for providing safe drinking water. As if […]

Mumbai-Bye, Birdie

India’s vultures on verge of extinction thanks to cattle medication India’s once-abundant vulture population has plummeted an astonishing 97 percent in the past decade, and conservationists worldwide charge the Indian government with not acting quickly enough to save them. The culprit is diclofenac, a cheap painkiller used to treat sick cattle in South Asia; it […]