Articles by Grist staff

Oh, And It's Safe to Drive Without a Seat Belt, Too

An arm of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened its mercury contamination standard yesterday, proclaiming it safe for people to consume three times as much mercury as the EPA advises. State health officials often use the standard to calculate advisories on how much fish people can safely eat. Environmentalists were joined by […]

Power to the People

Earth Day 1999 — April 22 — will mark the beginning of a year-long “New Energy for a New Era” campaign leading up to Earth Day 2000. Denis Hayes, who was national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, is leading the charge. The goal is to rally hundreds of millions to push for […]

One More Reason War Is Hell

NATO airstrikes at an oil refinery and petrochemical complex near Belgrade, Yugoslavia, early this morning unleashed a torrent of black smoke and toxic fumes into the air. Some 50 people were reportedly treated for gas poisoning. Serb officials said that to avoid further explosions, they were compelled to dump chlorine-based, carcinogenic chemicals into the Danube […]

Worth Their Weight in Gold

An African man who has devoted his life to protecting a huge tropical rainforest and two aboriginal Australian women who have fought against a uranium mine are among the winners of the Goldman Environmental Prizes to be awarded today. The prestigious annual prizes honor grass-roots environmentalists from six continents; winners receive $125,000. Other winners this […]