Articles by Grist staff

Putting His Asbestos Foot Forward

GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney and the energy company he runs, Halliburton Co., have contributed more than $150,000 to members of Congress who co-sponsored legislation that would curtail the ability of workers to sue companies over asbestos exposure. Coincidentally (ahem), about 273,300 lawsuits have been filed against Halliburton and its subsidiaries since 1976 by […]

Air Apparent

Spurred by Beijing’s bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics, China is pledging to ramp up its effort to clean the country’s air. Last year, Beijing’s air qualified for the government’s best rating, Level 1, only once — when the government shut down industries for the 50th anniversary of communist China — and a quarter of […]

Laissez-fair?

U.S. enviros said yesterday that a Clinton administration plan for making international trade negotiations more eco-friendly is a good first step but doesn’t go nearly far enough. Under rules proposed by the White House last month, U.S. trade negotiators would be required to review how draft trade agreements would affect the environment and to solicit […]

Johnny Bad-Seed

Even as the controversy around genetically modified (GM) crops escalates, few people are aware that a biotech revolution in forestry is also underway, with GM trees being developed and tested around the globe. Some have been engineered to grow cherries in unusual colors or apples that don’t turn brown even hours after being sliced. Others […]