Articles by Grist staff

A Sock in the Eye

About 50 orcas from two pods that live in the waters near Washington state’s San Juan Islands have migrated to California’s Monterey Bay, 1,000 miles farther south than they’ve ever been seen before, most likely because salmon in Washington are in such short supply. In the past, the orcas could count on a year-round supply […]

My Sediments Exactly

The U.S. Forest Service is sure to stir up controversy today when it proposes a new policy that would make it more difficult to construct roads in the 155 national forests in the U.S. Most such roads are built for logging, and many of them are eroding and dumping sediment into waterways, endangering fish. Under […]

Old King Coal Was a Dirty Old Soul

The U.S. government yesterday expanded an ongoing legal battle against dirty, coal-burning power plants, adding 12 plants to a lawsuit it filed against utilities in November. The move comes just one day after the feds announced a landmark settlement under which a Florida utility will spend some $1 billion to clean up two dirty facilities. […]

Ouch — That Street Smarts

Children who live near busy streets or highways are up to six times more likely than other children to contract cancer or leukemia, according to a new study in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association. The study authors, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, speculate that the cause is carcinogens in […]