Articles by Grist staff

The Dirt on Dirt

Improved farming practices and soil conservation measures in the U.S. have significantly reduced soil erosion problems, according to a study published in today’s issue of the journal Science. Stanley Trimble of the University of California at Los Angeles conducted a 26-year study of an area in Wisconsin and found that the soil erosion rate there […]

Panel to Court: Kiss My Asthma

A government panel of air-pollution experts is pressing the EPA to accelerate its research into possible health problems caused by particulate pollution, despite a federal court ruling this spring that cast doubt on the agency’s power to regulate the tiny soot particles. The panel, assembled by the National Research Council, said that disrupting research into […]

You Rock, Yurok!

After years of mutual ill will, California’s largest Native American tribe, the Yurok Indians, and the Simpson Timber Co., the biggest owner of forestland along the state’s northern coast, are partnering to help restore salmon runs along the Klamath River. The Yurok have long complained that silt from Simpson’s logging roads clogs the river’s tributaries, […]

Amazon Grace

Although the Amazon rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate, a few projects are underway to develop sustainable logging techniques and replant denuded areas. Brazil’s Institute of Man and the Amazon Environment is studying reduced-impact logging and developing techniques to remove older trees without damaging younger ones and without cutting into profits. For its part, […]