Articles by Grist staff

Full-court Cypress

The U.S. National Park Service has given an initial green light to a proposal to search for oil in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve by detonating dynamite in 14,700 holes and drilling an 11,800-foot exploratory well. The preserve is a watershed for the Everglades and home to the endangered Florida panther and other protected species. […]

Animal Crackers

Undaunted by the post-Sep. 11 anti-terrorism climate, an Animal Liberation Front spokesperson yesterday released the first-ever “year-end report” on illegal actions committed in the name of animals and the environment, or so-called eco-terrorism. The report cites 137 such acts in 2001, including an act of arson at the University of Washington that resulted in $5.3 […]

Deep Sea Diving

As if all the political strife weren’t enough, here’s more grim news from the Middle East: The Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, is getting even lower. In the last decade, the sea, which already lies more than 1,300 feet below sea level, has fallen an additional 20 feet. Scientists attribute the change to […]

Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire

Fires that rage in thousands of underground coal seams around the world are polluting the air and releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas. Although coal fires occur naturally from spontaneous combustion, scientists say the frequency of such fires has risen as mining has exposed coal deposits to more fires and […]