Articles by Grist staff

Hot Kofi

Three days after President Bush unveiled his energy plan, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized the Bush administration for its stance on climate change and suggested that the U.S. should do more to conserve energy. At a commencement address yesterday in Massachusetts, Annan also rejected the idea espoused by the administration that implementing the Kyoto treaty […]

Wait, I Thought the Bengals Were From Cincinnati

In the biggest donation of its kind, General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, is giving $10 million to protect 30,000 acres of coastal rainforest in southern Brazil, the Nature Conservancy said last week. GM may get pollution credits sometime in the future for preserving the forest and its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the […]

Didn't Cheech and Chong Already Think of This?

Hemp cars could be ready to hit the road within a decade, say researchers in Australia. Alan Crosky of the University of New South Wales says hemp is the most viable biodegradable material to use for car bodies, beating out coconuts and banana trees in early studies. Crosky thinks car owners will soon save money […]

Activists Disappearing Almost As Fast As Forests

Since the end of a seven-year civil war in Liberia in 1997, rainforests in the country have been cut down at an unprecedented rate, say environmentalists. Foreign companies, along with the country’s president, Charles Taylor, and his inner circle, have pocketed the profits from logging, while ordinary citizens have seen few benefits. Protests are rare […]