Articles by Grist staff

A Snowmobile's Chance in Hell

The National Park Service today banned the recreational use of snowmobiles in nearly all national parks, recreational areas, and monuments, saying they have had a “significant adverse environmental effect” on the park system. The only exceptions are parks in Alaska and Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, where Congress has specifically allowed snowmobiles. More than 180,000 […]

Uptown Girl, Downbeat News

The rate of infant deaths near five nuclear power plants dropped substantially after the nuclear reactors were closed, according to a new study published in the spring edition of the Journal of Environmental Epidemiology and Toxicology. The study suggests that the health of people who live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant may […]

Brand-Name Genes

A coalition of enviro groups yesterday petitioned the Agriculture Department to tighten its regulation of genetically engineered crops, accusing the department of approving new biotech plants without requiring adequate tests to assure that they won’t harm the environment. Plants that are artificially engineered to be resistant to pests could pass along resistance genes to weeds […]

This Makes Us Yak

China has plundered Tibet’s natural resources and severely polluted the region’s environment, according to a report by the exiled Tibetan government based in India. The report, to be presented today to the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, accuses China of uncontrolled deforestation, mining, and dumping of nuclear waste. Forty-six percent of Tibet’s forest cover has […]