Articles by Grist staff

Diddly-squat

Kenyans have been clashing over the future of 167,000 acres of forestland around Mount Kenya since the government announced in February that it would clear the land so that landless farmers could live there. The acreage represents about 7 percent of the country’s total remaining forest cover. Environmentalists in the Green Belt Movement say that’s […]

The Fountain Airheads

Many customers of Southern California Edison are dutifully honoring the company’s request to dim the lights and conserve electricity, but not the folks at the international headquarters of the Ayn Rand Institute. Yaron Brook, the executive director of the group, which is dedicated to promoting Rand’s theories of individualism, said, "Expecting the American people to […]

America Last?

Although President Bush has proven to be a pushover on the issue, a bunch of multinational companies are working (albeit, slowly) to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Why? Japan and Europe have kept up the pressure on companies to act; energy costs are rising, so efficiency saves money; and some of the companies want to […]

Driving That Train, High on Industrial Solvents

More than 600 railroad workers, from Maryland to Kentucky to Montana, have been diagnosed with brain damage over the last 15 years from handling toxic degreasing solvents, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal after a 10-month investigation. Thousands more may be ill, but not know why. Railroad companies, particularly CSX Transportation, have paid tens of millions of […]