Articles by Grist staff

Feeling Minnesota

Bush Touts Plan to Expand Farmland Conservation Program In the crucial swing state of Minnesota, which President Bush lost by a narrow margin in 2000, he pledged this week to expand the nearly 20-year-old Conservation Reserve Program, whereby farmers are paid an annual rent for setting aside environmentally sensitive land. The program pays out roughly […]

Shite!

Storms Send Tons of Sewage into London’s Thames River Up to a million tons of raw sewage were pumped into the Thames River this week as London’s aged sewer system was overcome by torrential rain. We’ll pause a moment here while you try to wipe the image of a million tons of sewage from your […]

Are You My Mother?

Scientists Enable Salmon to Birth Trout Scientists in Japan have succeeded in causing salmon to give birth to trout. Yep, you read that correctly: By transplanting the “primordial germ cells” — specialized tissue in embryonic fish that will eventually develop into sexual organs — of a North American rainbow trout into the embryos of young […]

A Real Kick in the Asthma

Global Warming Expected to Increase Smog Enviros sometimes struggle to connect distant, abstract issues like global warming to kitchen-table issues like dirty air and asthma. Well, here you go: By 2050, global warming is likely to increase the number of smog-alert days (in which air quality violates federal standards) by some 60 percent in 15 […]