Articles by Grist staff

Power, but Not Mercury, to the People

Wisconsin is moving to become the first state to force electric utilities to cut their mercury emissions. This week, the state Natural Resources Board is expected to approve for public comment a set of rules that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants by 90 percent over the next 15 years. The rules are aimed […]

Pulp Friction

Cheap paper made from rampant logging of the Indonesian rainforest is flooding Britain. Public agencies are among the big users of the paper, despite calls by the government to use products only from sustainable sources. Asia Pulp and Paper, Indonesia’s biggest paper producer, receives significant backing from British banks. About 70 percent of Indonesia’s forests […]

A Connecticut Yankee in King Coal's Court

Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (R) on Friday vetoed the “Sooty Six” bill that would have forced the state’s six oldest and least efficient power plants to cut emissions of sulfur dioxide. His decision came the day before the bill would have automatically become law. Rowland had said he would sign the bill, and Democrats and […]

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

About 1,000 demonstrators, some dressed as ears of corn and others as tomatoes, held a protest yesterday in San Diego on the opening day of a biotechnology trade show. Shannon Service of Boulder, Colo., who was in a monarch butterfly costume, said, “The biotech industry is conducting a real-time experiment with our biosphere. They don’t […]