Articles by Grist staff

Better Off, Dead

Eco-burials on the upswing We’re all gonna die! Eventually, anyway. If you’d like your demise to contribute to a greener planet, reserve a plot at Forever Fernwood, a northern California cemetery specializing in “eco-interments.” About half of Fernwood is devoted to burials that use environmentally friendly practices: hemp-silk blend shrouds, biodegradable coffins, low-key grave markers […]

Lakes and Pains

Great Lakes beset by myriad threats This weekend, The Detroit News published a massive series on the latest threats facing the Great Lakes — and we mean massive: close to 30 articles. The lakes, which hold a fifth of the world’s freshwater, were once emblematic of America’s environmental malaise, choked with algae and pollutants. While […]

That’s Some Commitment

Bush administration cuts protections for Pacific salmon habitat In a move it says reaffirms its “commitment to salmon recovery,” the Bush administration on Friday slashed critical habitat for Pacific salmon facing extinction. The National Marine Fisheries Service announced that federal protection for salmon habitat in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington would be cut from 167,700 […]

Newly discovered lemur species too cute for words

Scientists discovered two new lemur species, named Microcebus lehilahytsara (shown here) and Mirza zaza, in one of the most studied rain forests of Madagascar. New primate species are rare finds, though the animals' small size -- about the size of a mouse and a grey squirrel, respectively -- help explain why they were never spotted before.