Articles by Grist staff

Haul Out the Folly

White House makes last-ditch effort to open Arctic Refuge to drilling The Bush administration is mounting a last-ditch effort to persuade Congress to approve drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before lawmakers break for the holidays. Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao are out furiously shopping talking points: It would supply […]

Eilon Schwartz, founder of The Heschel Center, answers questions

Eilon Schwartz. What work do you do? I’m the founder and executive director of The Heschel Center, an environmental NGO in Israel. I am also an academic, teaching at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. What does your organization do? Only in the last decade has environmentalism gotten on the map in Israel. For years, “The […]

King of the Ill

Orcas top polar bears as most toxic Arctic mammals Orcas have officially surpassed polar bears as most toxic mammal in the Arctic. Wo0t! Researchers tested blubber samples and found them permeated with pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) — highly persistent toxic chemicals also found in the breast milk of Inuit mothers — and a flame retardant […]

The Big Grapple

New York, New York, it’s a wonderful, energy-efficient town With demand for electricity steadily increasing but no room for new power plants, New York City is making pioneering strides in energy efficiency; even famously eco-conscious burgs like Seattle and Portland are taking notice. New York has switched over more than 11,000 traffic lights and walk […]