Articles by Grist staff

Snippets from the news

• Deaths at oil and gas fields rise at an alarming rate. • Almanac prognosticators consider how to deal with climate change. • Santa Barbara city council says no to offshore drilling. • Berkeley tree-sitters descend. • Old-growth forests do their part to fight global warming. • Alberta oil spill kills hundreds of birds. • […]

Ethics violations alleged at agency that collects oil and gas royalties

Between 2002 and 2006, a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” existed at the federal agency responsible for overseeing oil and gas royalties, according to an investigation by Minerals Management Service Inspector General Earl Devaney. Thirteen MMS employees (in an office of 55 people) are alleged to have rigged contracts, worked part-time as oil consultants, […]

Greenpeace protesters acquitted in coal-activism case

In a decision that anti-coal activists say is a gamechanger, six Greenpeace protesters have been acquitted of nearly $53,000 in criminal-damage charges for painting “Gordon” on a British coal plant. The activists climbed a 650-foot coal-plant chimney last year with the intent to paint “Gordon bin it” in huge letters, aiming to pressure Prime Minister […]

White roofs could help keep climate change at bay

This whole climate-change debacle could be significantly slowed down if the world’s 100 largest cities thing installed white roofs and more-reflective pavement, says a new study to be published in the journal Climatic Change. It may sound like greenwhitewashing, but physicist Hashem Akbari crunches the numbers: By bouncing heat away from the Earth, a 1,000-square-foot […]