Articles by Grist staff

Surprise and Demand

Someday, maybe in two years, maybe in 2020, the demand for oil will outstrip the supply of it. How long after we reach that point will we go on denying it? Petroleum is at the base of much of what we modern-day folks take for granted — gasoline, jet fuel, plastics, pesticides, fertilizers. What to […]

Give a Hoot — You Can't Commute

Frustrated commuters in Delhi burned buses yesterday to protest an order by India’s Supreme Court to ban diesel-burning vehicles from the city’s roads. In 1998, the court ruled that vehicles used for public transport must be converted from diesel to cleaner-burning natural gas by the end of March 2001. Very few attempts were made to […]

Going to Kjell in a Handbasket

The Bush administration rejected pleas yesterday from a European Union delegation visiting Washington, D.C., to try to get President Bush to reconsider his decision to abandon the Kyoto treaty on climate change. The top-level delegation met with U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman and White House and State Department officials. Kjell Larsson, Sweden’s environment minister, […]

Sweet Providence

A Rhode Island superior court judge ruled on Monday that the state can proceed with its lawsuit against manufacturers that marketed lead-based paints. Rhode Island is the first state to sue the paint industry over lead poisoning; taking a hint from the successful legal tactics used against tobacco companies, the state is accusing the industry […]