Articles by Grist staff

Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama’s got green cred

Barack Obama. Photo: David Katz/Obama for Illinois. As if America needs one more reason to fall in love with Barack Obama. Beyond the unabashed idealism, stirring oratory skills, touching life story, and knee-buckling smile that have made this candidate for Illinois’ open Senate seat the new beau ideal of progressive politics, it so happens that […]

Funds in the Sun

Landmark California Solar Initiative Sitting on Schwarzenegger’s Desk If California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signs off on the “Million Solar Homes Initiative” in its present form, some $100 million in subsidies will go toward insuring that 50 percent of all new homes in the state be equipped with photovoltaic solar panels by 2013. The landmark […]

Spare the Rod or You’ll Spoil the Child

Half of All Freshwater Fish in U.S. High in Mercury In the 21st century, it seems, having kids and eating fish do not mix. The bad fish news just keeps on coming: Yesterday, a new analysis showed that more than half of the freshwater fish in the U.S. contain levels of mercury unsafe for children […]

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Any More)

Mountains in Peru, Italy Falling Apart; Global Warming to Blame Global warming is destroying some of the world’s tallest and most stunning mountains. In Peru, the glaciers capping 18 peaks in the Andes are melting, and if “climatic conditions remain as they are, all the glaciers below 18,000 feet will disappear by around 2015,” said […]