Articles by Grist staff

Can’t See the Forest for the Roads

Bush administration replaces Clinton roadless rule with more roadful one The Bush administration yesterday gave the heave-ho to the sweeping Clinton administration roadless rule, which put some 58.5 million acres of national forests off-limits to development. In its place, a new rule will put 34.3 million acres of that land back into play, at the […]

Sunny Size Up

World’s largest solar power plant planned for Portugal The world’s largest solar power station, which would cover over 600 acres and could produce up to 116 megawatts of electricity, is planned for an economically depressed yet sun-drenched corner of Portugal. The almost $550 million project, if approved by the Portuguese government, would effectively reclaim an […]

Got to Admit, It’s Getting Brighter, It’s Getting Brighter All the Time

Global dimming reversed in past decade; now brightening again So, remember that big hubbub about “global dimming” a while back, whereby particulates (e.g., smog) in the earth’s atmosphere were reflecting light and taking the edge off global warming? Yeah, well, funny story: That’s not happening anymore. Two new papers in the journal Science show that […]

Breaking a Bad Habitat

More problems uncovered with habitat conservation plans The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has published parts two and three of its special series on habitat conservation plans (HCPs) and, suffice to say, the story didn’t get any cheerier after part one. A proposed 9.1 million-acre HCP in Washington — which would cover the bulk of the state’s private […]