Articles by Grist staff

Torpedo the Dams — Full Speed Ahead!

The Edwards Dam in Augusta, Maine, will be breached on Thursday in an effort to restore fish populations in the Kennebec River, as debates rage across the U.S. over proposals to knock down dams for the sake of fish. About 75,000 large dams block American rivers, and small dams block thousands more. Proposals to breach […]

Snap, Crackle over Population

A U.N. population conference of 180 nations is running into problems as a small group of conservative Catholic and Muslim developing countries is splitting from the majority on family planning, abortion, and sex education in schools. The conference, a follow-up to the 1994 Cairo population meeting, today is supposed to present an updated action plan […]

Keep on Pushing My Dove over the Borderline

The Mexican and U.S. governments are combining forces for the first time to try to save a watershed, the Upper San Pedro River Basin in northern Mexico and southwestern Arizona. The area, the last aviary migration zone in the southwestern U.S., is a stopping point each year for 4 million migratory birds, representing 400 bird […]

Wind Picking up Speed

Wind power is undergoing an explosive growth spurt, with wind-energy capacity growing an average of 26 percent annually during the 1990s and 35 percent last year. Most of the growth has taken place in Europe, where governments have encouraged wind-power development with research investments and other incentives. In the U.S., a federal tax credit for […]