Articles by Grist staff

Farm Aid

Small Farms Turn Organic to Survive Battered by volatile markets and relentless corporate consolidation, many family farms are turning to organic cultivation — and joining organic cooperatives — to survive. According to farm advocacy group Farm Aid, the number of family farms in the U.S. has declined from 8 million to 2 million in the […]

Superfubar

Contaminated Oklahoma Site Highlights Superfund Problems The Superfund site at the former Tar Creek mine, located near the rural northeast Oklahoma communities of Cardin, Picher, and Hockerville, is a sobering demonstration of the U.S. government’s limited ability to clean up industrial pollution. The mine, which produced lead ore to make the bullets fired in two […]

Unwiseguys

Italian “Eco-Mafia” Prospers Through Illegal Dumping and Building In a moribund Italian economy, one business sector is thriving: the “eco-mafia,” a network of criminal clans and gangs that engage in illegal construction and illegal disposal of hazardous waste, described in a recent report by Legambiente, Italy’s most prominent environmental group. The eco-mafiosi build villas and […]

Hello, Nu Man

China’s Prime Minister Unexpectedly Suspends Dam Project Well, knock us over with a feather. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has just suspended — pending further study and review — the massive hydroelectric dam system planned for the Nu River, which runs through an unspoiled, richly biodiverse area in western China dubbed a World Heritage Site […]