Articles by Grist staff

Sicken-Me Elmo

California may restrict two chemicals used in plastic baby goods In its continuing quest to make the rest of the country look environmentally retrograde, the California legislature is considering a bill that would ban the use of two controversial chemicals in baby products. Specifically, it would prohibit phthalates, used to soften plastic items like chew […]

A Char, Char Better Thing That I Do

New study finds salvage logging bad for burned forests The timber industry and Bush administration officials contend that salvage logging post-wildfire is the quickest path to reforestation, but a new study refutes that claim. Published in Science, it found that logging of burned trees after the 2002 Biscuit fire in Oregon — the biggest wildfire […]

The Green Mileage

Mileage estimates likely to decline under EPA’s proposed new system The U.S. EPA has proposed new standards for calculating auto fuel-economy ratings, expected to reduce by 5 to 30 percent the mileage estimates in window stickers on new cars and trucks. Ouch. It’s the first ratings overhaul since 1985, intended to reflect changes in driving […]

So Fresh, So Clean

Whole Foods makes record-setting wind-power purchase Whole Foods Market, mega-purveyor of organic and free-range foodstuffs, plans to purchase a jaw-dropping 458 million kilowatt-hours of wind-energy credits. It will be the largest-ever such purchase in North America, enough to offset the entire company’s projected energy use through 2006. The move will keep about 700 million pounds […]