Articles by Grist staff

Steve Blackmer, founder of the Northern Forest Center, answers questions

Steve Blackmer. What work do you do? I’m the president of the Northern Forest Center, based in Concord, N.H. What does your organization do? We work to revitalize the rural economy and communities and conserve the forests of the 30-million-acre Northern Forest region of northernmost New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine — the largest […]

Arup and at ‘Em

China hires British engineers to create self-sufficient urban centers Remember Logan’s Run, the futuristic 1970s sci-fi flick where sex-crazed twentysomethings lived in a self-contained city sealed off from the ravages of a devastated environment? Seems reality might be catching up with fiction: China’s hiring British firm Arup to design and build up to five “eco-cities” […]

But Please, Come on Back

Toxic nasties abound in New Orleans muck; big cleanup being planned Despite a well-publicized — hyped, even — recent study suggesting that Hurricane Katrina floodwaters weren’t so bad, turns out the muck coating much of New Orleans poses serious long-term health risks. The Dallas Morning News compared the government’s raw testing data from New Orleans, […]

Between Barack and a Hard Place

Obama will block EPA nominees until agency issues new lead rules President Bush’s latest U.S. EPA nominee has run into an obstacle no one anticipated: a Democrat with cojones. On Friday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) announced he was placing a hold on the nomination of Susan Bodine to head the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste […]