Articles by Grist staff

Here’s a Solution. Now What Was Your Problem Again?

Bush administration pushes energy bill as solution to high gas prices American citizens — or “consumers,” as they’re known these days — are irritated about high gas prices, and many of them blame President Bush, whose popularity has hit new lows. Of course, presidents are hardly responsible for short-term swings in commodity prices. Nevertheless, Bush […]

Umbra’s N-power column and Grist’s giveaway raise ire and interest

  Re: Half-Life Is Beautiful? Dear Editor: Embracing nuclear power in an attempt to avoid the global-warming implications of reliance on coal is like taking up heroin to avoid an addiction to crack. While disregarding the known greenhouse-gas costs associated with mining, milling, constructing, and decommissioning of nuclear plants, Umbra Fisk parrots the industry-driven myth […]

South African zoo wants chimp to kick nicotine habit

An adult male chimpanzee in a South African zoo has taken up a peculiar habit: smoking. Charlie, one of the Bloemfontein Zoo's star attractions, gets his nicotine fix by smoking cigarettes thrown to him by visitors.

"Baby chimps pick up habits by mimicking adults, and we think he started mimicking smokers at his enclosure, which probably led to smokers throwing him cigarettes," spokesman Daryl Barnes said.

Barnes said Charlie was already showing the signs of a true nicotine addict.

"He even acts like a naughty schoolboy by hiding the cigarette when staff approach the area," Barnes said, adding that the zoo was determined to help him quit.

Zoo officials are urging visitors to refrain from giving Charlie their cigarettes or any other treats. Apparently the chimp's got another vice: a sweet tooth for the cans of soft drinks people throw at him (ow?).

Sadly, Charlie is not the only smoking chimp. A zoo in China announced last year that one of its chimps had also taken to the nasty habit.

The Gold Shoulder

Latin American activists have string of successes against gold mines Even with mining laws, environmental laws, and international free-trade agreements heavily weighted against them, activists in Latin America have had a string of recent successes stopping open-pit and cyanide heap-leach mines from polluting their groundwater and decimating hillsides. In Peru last November, protestors blocked roads […]