Articles by Grist staff

Money for Nothing and Your Trees for Free

As many as one in 10 trees removed from national forests in the U.S. is cut down illegally, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The problem plagues the entire nation, from the Adirondacks to the Olympics, and is not restricted to public forests: Tree theft is also common on land owned by lumber companies and […]

Growl

Along with whales and pandas, grizzly bears are among the most famous and most beloved poster children of the environmental movement. But that hasn’t deterred the Bush administration from consistently making land-use decisions that environmental activists say threaten the animals. The administration’s actions — most notably, the halting of a hard-won, Clinton-era plan to reintroduce […]

Green Washing?

With eco-friendly marketing all the rage, companies are increasingly exploiting the term “organic” to sell their products — regardless of how good those products are for consumers or for the environment. That’s especially true when it comes to soaps, shampoos, conditioners, scrubs, lotions and the like, whose labeling practices (unlike those of food products) aren’t […]

40 Acres and a Tax Break

California environmentalists and farmers rejoiced yesterday when Gov. Gray Davis (D) restored $40 million in funding for farmland and open-space protection under the Williamson Act. Together, farmers and enviros had lobbied heavily against the proposed elimination of the act, under which the state pays back counties for property taxes lost when landowners are given lower […]