Articles by Grist staff

Maybe I’ll Be There to Take Your Land

As private forests in U.S. go for sale, enviros are pit against developers Privately owned forests make up nearly 20 percent of U.S. land, and they’re changing hands at a blistering pace. A U.S. Forest Service study predicts that 44 million acres of private forestland will be sold over the next 25 years — an […]

Chain, Chain, Chain … Chain of Food

An oil crunch will upend our food system, not just our transportation The end of cheap oil is the topic du jour in environmental circles these days. Blogs devoted to peak oil are popping up like fungi; even mainstream outlets like CNN are devoting air time to it. But discussion seems to focus entirely on […]

Freeport Your Mine, and Unrest Will Follow

Mining companies dig up trouble in Indonesia Two U.S.-based mining companies are digging up trouble in Indonesia. A protest last week demanding closure of a Freeport-McMoRan gold and copper mine in the Papua province led to the deaths of at least three police officers and one soldier, then to the military seizing control of the […]

Barack Obama chats with Grist about energy independence and ethanol

The weight of much hope and expectation rests on the narrow shoulders of Barack Obama, the first-term Democratic senator from Illinois. Barack Obama. His eventual presidential run is seen as inevitable (some pundits even hype a 2008 bid). He’s a phenomenon, and everyone wants to see him up close. That’s fundraising manna for the Democrats: […]