Articles by Grist staff

Starting Down a Slippery (North) Slope

Despite protests and a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, the U.S. government yesterday sold oil drilling rights to environmentally sensitive but oil-rich land on Alaska’s North Slope for $105 million. Enviro groups, including the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society, have a suit pending against the federal government over the drilling leases, claiming that the environmental impact […]

Fish Can't Scale Walls of Death

International fishing authorities are cracking down on illegal drift-netting, an environmentally destructive method using nets that are more than 1.5 miles long and that indiscriminately catch all fish and marine mammals in their paths. Though driftnets — referred to by enviros as “walls of death” — were banned in international waters by the U.N. in […]

Domo Aregato, Mr. Clean-Auto

Japanese automakers have reached a tentative agreement with the European Commission to voluntarily raise the fuel-efficiency and reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of cars sold in Europe. Europe’s own automakers voluntarily pledged last year to increase efficiency to about 48 miles per gallon. Attempts to reach a similar agreement with Korean car manufacturers have stalled […]

Wetlands, the Quicker Picker-Upper?

Human-made marshes that filter water naturally are gaining in popularity as an alternative to high-tech water purifying systems, according to experts speaking at a National Marketplace for the Environment meeting in Anaheim, Calif. Partially treated wastewater and stormwater runoff are sent to constructed wetlands, where plants and microbes purify the water of silt and some […]