Articles by Grist staff

Spirited Away

Teshima Island — one of many islands in Japan’s Inland Sea, where the nation’s first national park was established — has for decades served as a dumping ground for trash and toxic waste. The practice was illegal, but advantageous for the nation’s powerful industries (and, according to rumor, its powerful mob). Now, after a 25-year […]

Blind Spot

Controversy is roiling among scientists about the wisdom of focusing conservation efforts on protecting “hot spots,” areas that cover just 1.4 percent of the Earth’s terrestrial surface but are home to nearly half of all land-based plant species and more than a third of all land animal species. Since 1988, when biologist Norman Myers and […]

Lake Woe-be-here

The pristine environment around Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world’s deepest freshwater lake, is endangered by a joint Russian-Chinese plan to build an oil pipeline through the region, Greenpeace warned yesterday. A month ago, Russian and Chinese oil companies signed a 25-year deal to pump 30 million tons of Russian crude oil to China every […]

Down, but Not Out

Here’s a spot of good news: Releases of toxic chemicals by U.S. industries declined 15 percent between 2000 and 2001 (the most recent year for which data are available) and dropped by more than 50 percent since 1988. That’s the latest word from the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory. Of course, that means there are […]