Articles by Grist staff

The Talk of the Drown

Polar bears drowning as Alaska sea ice disappears OK, we’re trying to keep a positive outlook here, but … drowning polar bears? Seriously? And just when therapy was starting to work. In September 2004 (the year the polar ice cap receded a record 160 miles from Alaska’s north coast), federal researchers doing routine aerial surveys […]

Interactive map identifies areas of imminent extinction

Researchers have identified 595 sites for species protection in a new interactive map. Representing more than a dozen major conservation groups, collaborators on the map were able to pinpoint areas where extinction is a question of when, not if.

Each spot on the map represents either the only place an endangered species is found or a spot where 95 percent of the species' population is found. Almost 800 endangered species are listed with the map's danger spots, though they include only birds, mammals, amphibians, conifers, and some reptiles, as others have yet to be studied or identified.

The map appears to be the first major project of the Alliance for Zero Extinction, a global coalition of biodiversity-minded organizations.

Population activist David Nova took his message to the trail

David Nova. While camping alone in the Mojave Desert three years ago, David Nova was suddenly struck by the lack of human influence — no buildings, no streetlights, no cars, all the way to the horizon. It wasn’t the first time the avid hiker had thought about the effects of population on the environment, but […]

Solar Survivor

California utility commission recharges Governator’s solar energy plan California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s (R) Million Solar Roofs initiative — a casualty of partisan squabbling in the California legislature’s last session — has been partially resurrected. On Tuesday, the California Public Utilities Commission responded to a groundswell of public support with a $3.2 billion plan to increase […]