Articles by Grist staff

Let’s Get Fiscal

President Bush’s $2.4 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2005, released today, gives the environment the shaft. The budget does propose funding increases for a handful of high-profile enviro projects (mostly in electoral swing states), including Superfund cleanups, conservation grants to private landowners, maintenance and construction in national parks, and salmon restoration. In many cases, […]

And Now for Something Completely Different

In sharp contrast to the recently released Bush administration budget, Canada’s Liberal Party government on Monday promised to double spending on contaminated-site cleanups, promote green technologies to increase energy efficiency, and go beyond the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol in curtailing emissions. Over 10 years, $4 billion will be devoted to cleaning up polluted military […]

Smoke Signals

Activists fighting against climate change could learn much from the tactics of anti-smoking campaigners, argues Audrey Schulman in our Soapbox section. The tobacco war has been fought on many fronts, but perhaps the most important was the concerted publicity campaign that changed the images people associate with smoking. It’s no longer romantic, no longer “cool.” […]

Going South

The search for Antarctic organisms that can be used for pharmaceutical and other commercial purposes — called “extremophiles” for their ability to thrive in harshly cold, dry, and salty conditions — is pushing international patent law to the breaking point and threatening the fragile Antarctic environment, concludes a United Nations study released on Sunday. The […]