Articles by Grist staff

BLM proposes opening wilderness-y areas in Utah to oil and gas drilling

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed opening up relatively pristine natural areas in eastern Utah to oil and gas drilling, including Nine-Mile Canyon and Desolation Canyon, despite the agency’s own determination in 1999 that the areas have “wilderness character” and thus are good candidates for wilderness designation. “BLM is condemning these lands to […]

Polar warming directly attributed to humans, study says

Warming at both the Earth’s poles has, for the first time, been directly attributed to humans, according to a new study in the journal Nature Geoscience. “[Y]ou see a clear human fingerprint in the observed data,” said researcher Peter Stott. “We really can’t claim anymore that it’s natural variations that are driving these very large […]

Fungus associated with mass bat die-off identified

A cold-weather-loving white fungus associated with huge bat die-offs in the U.S. Northeast has been identified by scientists, but its role in over 100,000 bat deaths in the region is still poorly understood. “Essentially, hibernating bats are getting moldy as they hang from their cave ceiling,” said lead author David Blehert. “It’s decimating the cave-bat […]

Canada P.M. reshuffles cabinet, lumps environment and economy together

Recently reelected Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper reshuffled his cabinet Thursday, lumping the economy, environment, and energy security together into an environment ministry headed by former Industry Minister Jim Prentice. Harper also declared, “We want to work with the Americans on regulatory systems relating to greenhouse-gas emissions in order that we can work toward […]