Articles by Grist staff

Ford rehires truck manufacturers

News from the They Just Don’t Learn Department: Ford will rehire 1,000 workers to build its F-150 pickup truck, expecting boosted consumer demand in the face of falling gas prices.

Feds deny GM request for merger bucks

General Motors’ request for up to $10 billion to aid its potential merger with Chrysler was spurned by the Treasury Department, say sources; instead, the Bush administration will try to speed along implementation of a $25 billion loan to Big Auto to encourage R&D of fuel-efficient vehicles.

Climate change to cause ‘economic deserts,’ U.N. chief says

Parts of the world undergoing severe, sustained drought will likely have to be all but abandoned by humans because water shortages (caused by climate change and overuse of rivers and aquifers) will make them unlivable, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Program warned this week.

Indonesian mud volcano caused by well explosion, geologists say

A faulty natural-gas well was the cause of the Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia that began erupting in May 2006 and hasn’t stopped yet, burbling up hundreds of gallons of mud each day and so far burying four towns and 25 factories, a meeting of geologists has concluded.