Articles by Grist staff

To Summit All Up

South African officials announced yesterday that the next Earth Summit, to be held in Johannesburg in 2002, will focus on worldwide access to drinking water and safeguarding children. The summit — officially called the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development — has the modest agenda of reviewing progress since the 1992 Rio summit, looking at […]

This Is the Dawning of the Age of Aquariums

It would be illegal to dump a common aquarium algae in any body of water in California under a bill before the state legislature. Caulerpa taxifolia, once given away free as a decorative addition to aquariums, is now banned by the Noxious Weed Act in the U.S. — but it can still be purchased illegally […]

Tropic of Cancer

Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida’s Panhandle are known for their unspoiled beaches and the Gulf of Mexico’s pretty waters — less known is that the area has some of the highest concentrations of toxic substances in the U.S. A three-month investigation by the Pensacola News Journal found that death rates from all forms […]

Scales of Justice

In a decision celebrated by salmon advocates, a federal judge ruled on Friday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been violating the Clean Water Act with its four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington state. She agreed with enviros that the dams raise water temperatures and dissolved nitrogen levels beyond standards […]