Articles by Grist staff

Swedish Neatballs

Sweden is setting the world’s standard for balancing economic growth with environmental protections, according to a report released last week by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Canadian International Development Research Center. The report used standards-of-living indicators such as quality of social services, infrastructure, education, and government, as well as assessing each country’s […]

Flood Insurance

Chinese officials and the United Nations Environment Programme hope a $10 million plan to restore lakes and reduce logging and erosion will prevent a repeat of the disastrous 1998 flooding of the Yangtze River. Severe environmental degradation exacerbated the effects of heavy rainfalls that year, causing floods that killed upwards of 3,600 people, cost $31 […]

Oily Sheen

Summoning the specter of national security threats, President Bush called on the U.S. Senate yesterday to pass an energy bill that would allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats ended committee discussion of an energy bill, calling the subject too divisive to discuss during a national crisis. Republicans […]

To Boldly Clean Where No One Has Cleaned Before

Urging other countries to follow its lead, Australia began a massive cleanup of its Antarctic research base today. As many as 330,000 tons of waste, the detritus of decades of research and exploration, is strewn over the otherwise pristine environment of Antarctica. The waste includes chemicals, batteries, oils, and building materials. Australia contracted a French […]