Articles by Grist staff

Dust, Asbestos From Trade Center Put Some at Risk

The enormous cloud of smoke and grit that spread from the collapsing World Trade Center towers on Tuesday could lead to attacks of asthma, emphysema, and other lung diseases, even a day or two after people were exposed, doctors said yesterday. Aside from the smoke, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said the biggest environmental […]

Solar Helps Bridge Digital Divide in Developed World

Solar energy has become the energy of choice in some of the world’s rural markets, helping to bridge the digital divide in developing countries. Daniel Kammen of the University of California at Berkeley said 2 billion people across the world don’t have access to electricity and 1 billion of them could afford to pay for […]

Coral Reefs Are Dying Faster Than Thought

The world’s coral reefs are dying faster and cover an area smaller than researchers previously thought, according to a study released yesterday by the U.N. Environment Programme. The UNEP report estimates that almost 60 percent of the reefs are under threat from human activities. For example, some Asian fishers use dynamite or cyanide to catch […]

Acreage Protected By Local Land Trusts Increases Threefold

Local land trusts across the U.S. had protected almost 6.4 million acres by the end of 2000, according to the Land Trust Alliance. That’s more than a threefold increase since 1990. And for the first time, the group said, land trusts had conserved land in all 50 states. California had the most land under protection […]