Articles by Grist staff

Salmon Take a Tern for the Worse

Northwest salmon in hatcheries and estuaries are testing positive for PCBs and DDT, and researchers at the National Marine Fisheries Service aren’t sure of the source of the pollutants. The chemicals are at levels high enough to harm fish immune systems, but the scientists don’t yet know if they could hurt humans who eat the […]

Oily to Rise

It seems likely that the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will approve a plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Reuters predicts the vote will be 12-11 in favor of drilling, with Democrat Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) crossing party lines in […]

Saving Private Lion

Private reserves, rather than public ones, may be the key to survival for many endangered species, according to researchers who presented at the Society for Conservation Biology in Hawaii earlier this month. Jeffrey Langholz of the Monterey Institute of International Studies said private reserves already account for about an eighth of the world’s land dedicated […]

Jakarta Four: The Hearse

In a big victory for the Indonesian environmental group Walhi, an Indonesian court this week found that mining giant Freeport Indonesia had given false information to the country’s parliament about a fatal mining accident last year and ordered the company to improve its toxic waste management. Four workers died in a landslide at the mine […]