Articles by Grist staff

Lighten Up

How’s this for a good way to scare up a few votes? As debate heats up in the Senate over the energy bill, the White House criticized the Democratic proposal, saying a provision mandating more fuel-efficient vehicles would result in — heaven forbid! — smaller cars and — huh? — more traffic deaths. In a […]

Drills, Spills, and Chills

Meanwhile, in a different corner of the energy debate … A proposal to allow oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge shares the spotlight with fuel-efficiency standards as one of the two most controversial items in the energy bill debate. Controversy over the refuge has turned into a triumph of spin over […]

Dissent Into Madness

Arundhati Roy, India’s prize-winning novelist-cum-environmental activist, was found guilty of contempt of court by her nation’s highest court yesterday. Roy was fined 2,000 rupees (about $40) and given a “symbolic” one-day jail sentence in light of the fact that “the respondent is a woman.” Roy is the author of The God of Small Things, which […]

The Lung and Short of It

For the first time, fine particles emitted by coal-fired power plants, factories, and diesel trucks have been linked to an increased risk of death from lung cancer. According to a study published in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, people living in heavily polluted U.S. metropolitan areas have a 12 percent […]