Articles by Grist staff

Smart Is As Smart Does

All that talk of “smart growth” aside, the rate at which the nation’s privately held farmland, forests, and wetlands are being lost to development has more than doubled since 1992, according to a study released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Almost 16 million acres of land were converted to development over the five-year […]

One Foot on the Gas, the Other Foot on the Brake

Hold the confetti. It’s true that Ford Motor Co. has withdrawn from the Global Climate Coalition, an industry group that vigorously opposes mandatory measures to control greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, although other high-profile companies such as British Petroleum have left the group in the past, Ford is the first company belonging to the coalition’s […]

Even a Luna-tic Knows When to Come in From the Cold

Brrr, it’s getting cold outside. And Julia Butterfly, the 25-year-old who’s been stationed for two years in a redwood slated for logging by the Pacific Lumber Co., is hinting that it may be time for her to end her protest and come down before winter hits full on in Northern California. Of course, she’d only […]

The (States') Right Stuff

The Supreme Court today is hearing oral arguments about a Washington state law regulating oil tankers that imposes safety and environmental guidelines more stringent than federal ones. Intertanko, an organization representing 75 percent of the world’s tanker companies, is asking the court to overturn the law, which was enacted in response to the 1989 Exxon […]