Articles by Grist staff

U.N.-Happy

The U.N. is warning that time is running out to forestall worldwide environmental problems, and it’s already too late to prevent some biodiversity loss and irreversible damage to ecosystems like tropical forests. An end-of-the-century report by the U.N. Environment Program, compiled by experts from more than 100 nations, predicts that a number of “full-scale emergencies” […]

More Senate Logrolling

The Senate killed a proposal yesterday that would have taken $33.6 million from the Forest Service timber-sale and road-building budget and put it toward protecting and surveying rare plants and animals in the Northwest and reducing the national debt. Republicans argued that the proposal, which Sens. Richard Bryan (D-Nev.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) tried to […]

Truck Trick

Automakers are planning to introduce as many as two dozen small sport-utility-like vehicles with car-based designs in the coming years and ask that they be classified as light trucks, a designation that has lower fuel-efficiency requirements. The new designs look like hybrids of SUVs, minivans, and cars. While the new vehicles get worse gas mileage […]

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect All of World Agriculture

Using a new weapon to fight biotechnology, activists announced yesterday that they plan to file antitrust lawsuits in 30 countries accusing major biotech firms, grain traders, and grain processors of using genetic engineering to gain control of world agriculture. Jeremy Rifkin, director of the Foundation on Economic Trends, said the legal actions are intended to […]