Articles by Grist staff

Julie Sze, enviro-justice advocate and professor, answers questions

What work do you do? I’m an assistant professor in American Studies at the University of California at Davis. How does it relate to the environment? My research and teaching interests are in environmental justice, race and science, the politics of the urban environment, health and risk, social movements, and community activism. What do you […]

The Frame Game

Do enviros need to pay more attention to the way they talk? Republican pollster Frank Luntz is famous for his memo to party bosses warning them about their vulnerability on the environment and coaching them on the proper way to frame their positions. Enviros tend to scorn this sort of message massaging, but then again, […]

What Would Jesus Ride?

Raging Cyclists push for bike-friendly reforms in Santiago Inspired by Critical Mass, the cycling activist group formed in San Francisco in 1992, the Furiosos Ciclistas — or Raging Cyclists — of Santiago, Chile, are inspiring real reform in that polluted city. The group is one of more than 200 inspired by Critical Mass in cities […]

Bela-ruse

Poor Belarusians returning to areas contaminated by Chernobyl It’s been 18 years since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the Ukraine exploded and spewed forth a cloud of radiation that contaminated some 22 percent of neighboring Belarus. Now many poor Belarusian residents are returning to normal life there, foraging for mushrooms and planting crops in areas […]