Articles by Grist staff

Refined Tastes

Construction is slated to begin next year on a “bio-refinery” in California that will convert thousands of tons of orchard prunings, rice straw, and other agricultural wastes into ethanol, which could be used as a gasoline additive in place of MTBE. In other clean energy news, sales of geothermal heat pumps jumped 20 percent in […]

Mediterranean Sea-ing Stars

The Mediterranean Sea is facing an ecological disaster if the nations along its shores don’t curb their polluting ways, according to a Greenpeace report released last Thursday. Greenpeace is pushing countries to ratify the Barcelona Convention, an agreement on protection of the sea, before the biannual Mediterranean Ministerial Meeting to be held this October. The […]

Farmers in Sheep's Clothing

Two farmers and two counties in eastern North Carolina are suing the federal government, seeking to nullify endangered species rules that provided for the reintroduction of the red wolf into the area a dozen years ago. As the wolf population grows, farmers say the rules keep them from protecting their livestock against wolf attacks. The […]

Green Berets

Greens in the French coalition government warned yesterday that they would quit the coalition if the cabinet proceeds with plans to replace aging nuclear plants with new reactors. The Greens regularly campaign for the elimination of nuclear energy, which provides 80 percent of France’s power, but this latest threat highlights their discontent with Socialist leadership. […]