Articles by Grist staff

Smokey Vs. the Bear

National parks in the U.S., already beset by problems ranging from overcrowding to a huge maintenance backlog, now face a new crisis: illegal marijuana farming. “This is massive-scale agriculture that is threatening the very mission of the national parks, which is to preserve the natural environment in perpetuity and provide for safe public recreation,” says […]

Chop Sticks

Old-growth trees in roadless areas of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska could soon be on the chopping block. The Bush administration announced yesterday that it plans to exempt the nation’s largest national forest from the Clinton-era “roadless rule,” which blocks logging and road-building on more than 58 million acres of wild land in national […]

Toyota Story

Toyota is racing to make its cars at least as recyclable as those of its European rivals, Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler. The Japanese automaker announced yesterday that the vehicles it produces in Japan and Europe should be at least 85 percent recyclable by 2006 and 95 percent recyclable by 2016, up from 83 percent today. The […]

Light on Their Fleet

The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear a case about whether the Los Angeles area can go beyond the federal Clean Air Act to impose strict anti-pollution rules on buses, taxis, garbage trucks, airport shuttles, and other vehicle fleets. Oil companies and engine manufacturers challenged a rule issued in 2000 by the South Coast Air […]