Articles by Grist staff

Flee Willy!

British Columbia’s southern population of orcas may be in trouble, a point emphasized last weekend when one of the orcas washed up dead on shore, its body highly contaminated with PCBs, dangerous human-made toxins. Tests on the dead whale’s body have not yet been completed, but a 1996 biopsy of the same whale found PCB […]

In Hot Water

Contaminated plumes of groundwater under the Nevada Test Site, where 828 underground nuclear tests were conducted between 1956 and 1992, may travel beyond the borders of the site toward populated areas in as little as 10 years, some scientists say. Federal scientists knew when they conducted the tests that the area’s groundwater would be tainted, […]

Forgive Them Their Debts

President Clinton, who is travelling through South Asia this week, announced yesterday that the U.S. will spend $50 million over four years to promote clean-energy projects in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. He also announced a debt-for-nature swap with Bangladesh under which the U.S. will forgive $6 million in debt in exchange for Bangladesh protecting tropical […]

Just for the Halibut

Thousands of rare sea birds and hundreds of marine mammals are being entangled and killed in fishing nets in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary off California’s central coast — and it’s all perfectly legal. Though national marine sanctuaries are established to protect marine resources, commercial and recreational fishing is generally allowed in the areas, […]