Articles by Grist staff

Space Balls

The largest and most expensive satellite ever built by Europe blasted off today, beginning its mission to monitor the environmental health of Planet Earth. The environmental satellite, or Envisat, was launched from French Guiana into orbit about 500 miles above the surface of the Earth, where it will circle the planet every 100 minutes. Envisat’s […]

Talkin’ Trash

What do you do with 11,000 tons of garbage per day? That’s the problem — well, one of the problems — plaguing New York City, whose trash disposal system is becoming a political, logistical, and financial headache for the beleaguered metropolis. A $6 billion long-term garbage-management plan devised by the Giuliani administration is stalled and […]

Indecent Exposure

Radioactive fallout from Cold War-era global nuclear weapons tests has caused at least 15,000 cancer deaths in the United States, according to an unreleased government report obtained by USA Today. The report is the U.S. government’s first attempt to assess the affects of radiation stemming from aboveground nuclear tests in the former Soviet Union, on […]

Something’s Fishy

A coalition of lawmakers, environmentalists, and fishers are angling to ban genetically modified (GM) fish from California. One proposed ban would prevent live transgenic fish from entering the state; another plan would require special labeling for GM fish sold for consumption in California stores. One other state, Maryland, has restricted genetically altered fish, and federal […]