Articles by Grist staff

Bottlestar Galactica

If Michigan environmentalists get their way, the state will dramatically expand its bottle law to cover 750 million additional beverage containers per year, including juice, water, and tea bottles that currently wind up as litter or in landfills. The state’s 1976 bottle law, which quickly cleaned up roadside litter, is both popular and successful. Every […]

Order in the Court

With a staunchly anti-environmental White House and a Republican-dominated Congress, environmentalists are turning to the third branch of government to fight their cause. Happily, the courts have presented a relatively safe haven for greens, upholding strict clean air standards the Bush administration sought to water down, blocking oil and gas exploration in the West, limiting […]

Liquid Assets

Saudi Arabia is home to the world’s largest oil reserves, but it’s desperately short on another, equally precious resource: water. There isn’t a river or lake to be found anywhere in the nation, and the only renewable water sources are shallow aquifers refilled by infrequent rains. A growing population, a fondness for showy swimming pools […]

Windy Cities

Wind power is usually generated in vast, open spaces — mountaintops, prairies, or offshore in shallow waters. But the Netherlands is taking wind power to new heights, literally: the rooftops of buildings in metropolitan areas. With light, quiet, efficient designs that often blend into the surrounding architecture, these urban windmills are built to take advantage […]