Articles by Grist staff

Chinese Water Torture

Beijing plans to crack down on water use in homes and businesses as northern China faces a severe drought that is drying up rivers and destroying crops. The city’s worst water shortage in nearly 20 years has been exacerbated by water pollution and soaring demand from a growing population. Beijing plans to follow the lead […]

A Tribe Called Quest

Conservationists cheered a Friday ruling by a federal appeals court that ordered the U.S. government to reconsider its decision to let the Makah Indian tribe of Washington state hunt migratory gray whales. The court ruled that the federal government had violated environmental laws by agreeing to support the hunt before it had conducted a review […]

Quit Your Blubbering

Norwegian whalers resumed their controversial hunt last month, despite a collapsed market for whale blubber. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but Norway began hunting again in 1993, flouting the ban. Norwegians have stockpiled some 800 tons of blubber in warehouses — “blubber mountain,” they call it — in hopes that the […]

Once More Into the Reach

Vice President Al Gore toured the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in Washington state today and announced that President Clinton this morning declared the surrounding area a national monument, a designation that needs no congressional approval. The 200,000 acres to be protected include the only remaining free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River, 51 miles […]