Articles by Grist staff

Going Bananas over Kiwis

The kiwi bird, New Zealand’s national symbol, is in danger of going extinct within five to 10 years, enviros warn. New Zealand’s kiwi population is now estimated at 70,000, down from 5 million in 1923. Though the population has been declining for decades, a recent study by New Zealand’s Forest and Bird Society, which found […]

Car and Drivel

Heavy lobbying by the auto industry thwarted efforts in the Senate to toughen fuel-economy standards for automobiles, particularly light trucks and sport utility vehicles. By a 55-40 vote, the Senate voted yesterday to maintain a five-year freeze on studying possible changes to the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards, which have not been changed since […]

Chicks Dig It

A high-tech composting technique in which natural soil bacteria and fungi are combined with chicken droppings is now being used to clean up areas contaminated by DDT and other toxic pesticides. The method, which was patented in the U.S. this week, involves digging up polluted soil and creating carefully controlled compost heaps that let soil […]

Beetlemania

Two native Indian groups in Canada plan to begin logging immediately on government land, acts of open defiance against the British Columbia government. Yesterday, more than 100 native leaders threw their support behind the Westbank Tribal Nation, which says it is exercising its aboriginal and common-law rights to log forests in its traditional territories. The […]