Articles by Grist staff

Country Bird, City Bird

Audubon Society’s New Strategy Targets Urbanites and Minorities The National Audubon Society, long respected as a defender of birds and their habitat, is adopting a new strategy aimed at ensuring its own health and survival: The 98-year-old conservation group plans to build 1,000 urban nature centers in cities around the U.S. by 2020, an effort […]

Good Witches of the North

Canadian High Court Upholds “Polluter Pays” Principle While the “polluter pays” principle struggles here in the U.S., our neighbors to the north have resoundingly reaffirmed it. In a unanimous decision, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled yesterday that companies that pollute must pay for the damage they cause. The case in question concerned Imperial Oil, which, […]

The Ghost of Climate Change Future

Defeat on Climate Change Bill Masks Subtle Victory, Supporters Say As expected, a proposal to establish mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions was rejected yesterday by the U.S. Senate in a 55-43 vote. Still, supporters of the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), were generally pleased with the […]

Senate Chainsaw Massacre

Senate Passes Healthy Forests Initiative Meanwhile, forest management in the rest of the U.S. is set to change, too, with yesterday’s 80-14 Senate vote in favor of a compromise version of President Bush’s Healthy Forests initiative. Although the vote was somewhat influenced by the fires in California, its effect will be felt well beyond the […]