Articles by Grist staff

Dust Breathe

EPA seeks to rescind clean-air protections for rural areas A new Bush administration proposal would strip significant clean-air protections from rural areas. The U.S. EPA would exempt these areas from meeting federal standards for coarse particulate matter — essentially, windblown clouds of dust — and end federal monitoring of particulate levels in those locales. The […]

The Sound of One Hand Tapping

Greenpeace joins lawsuit against Bush admin’s secret wiretap program On Tuesday, a diverse group of individuals and organizations filed suit against the National Security Agency, asking a federal court in Detroit to declare the agency’s clandestine domestic eavesdropping program unconstitutional. The plaintiffs — ranging from Greenpeace to stalwart Iraq war booster Christopher Hitchens — have […]

An interview with swashbuckling climate scientist Lonnie Thompson

Lonnie Thompson has clocked more hours above 18,000 feet than any other person in history, and yet he doesn’t exactly like climbing mountains. A masochist? No, just a hard-driving climate scientist. The iceman cometh. Photo: Courtesy Lonnie Thompson. Thompson treks up the highest peaks of the tropics — including the Himalayas and Andes — to […]

I Am Dyin’, Hear Me Roar

Lion advocates support trophy hunting to help save big cats When one contemplates saving an endangered species, one’s thoughts naturally turn to … shooting it. (Wait, yours don’t?) So it is with the fast-shrinking lion population of southern and eastern Africa: A historic meeting of conservationists, regional government representatives, and safari hunters last week in […]