Articles by Grist staff

Choosing the healthiest place to raise your kids can be a complicated matter

Two new reports in British medical journals suggest that choosing the right place to raise your children can have a major impact on their health and well-being.

"Duh," you say. But let's look at the details.

One study says living within 650 feet of a power line may significantly increase a child's likelihood of developing leukemia, the most common type of childhood cancer. It's a question that's been debated for a while now, and some researchers say the link is still weak.

Another study says exposure to aircraft noise may impair reading comprehension, while road traffic noise may actually improve (!) memory recall abilities in schoolchildren. However, a combination of both aircraft noise and traffic noise was associated with additional stress and a reduced quality of life.

So, to recap: living near power lines = bad; living near a busy airport = bad; living near a busy road = good (?); living on busy road near airport = bad.

Below the fold, tips on finding environmentally friendly communities:

Ferry Godfather

Architect shows that reusing discarded materials can be chic Greens have been going on for years about the need to reuse society’s refuse. Now, a high-end modernist San Francisco architect named Olle Lundberg is showing that scavenging is not just for the poor and idealistic. The rich can play too! For instance, Lundberg lives on […]

The Bad News Forebears

Study suggests toxins’ effects may be passed down through generations A pregnant woman’s exposure to toxic chemicals may cause harmful effects not only in her children, but in her grandchildren and theirs, a surprising new study suggests. For some time scientists have known about “epigenetic” changes: chemical modifications of DNA that affect the way it […]

The Sawn Remains the Same

Massive Amazon illegal logging ring busted Eighty-nine people were rounded up by Brazilian authorities this week as part of a massive crackdown on illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest, causing a rare outbreak of hope among conservationists that the country’s government is finally taking the problem seriously. (The sweep came just weeks after the latest, […]