Articles by Grist staff

New Ecuador constitution would give nature inalienable rights

Ecuador’s environment will be given inalienable rights if residents of that country vote yes Sept. 28 on a referendum to overhaul the constitution. One of the draft document’s 444 articles gives nature the right to “exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions, and its processes in evolution.” The controversial constitution, which would […]

U.S. EPA criticizes DOT over fuel-economy standards

Officials at the U.S. EPA have criticized their counterparts at the U.S. Transportation Department lately over the DOT’s proposed fuel-economy standards for vehicles of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015. The EPA has said the DOT used an unreasonably low figure for future gasoline prices — $2.42 a gallon in 2016 and a high of […]

Offshore wind power in U.S. poised to take off

There are no offshore wind turbines generating electricity in U.S. waters yet, but that’s expected to change soon if wind-power advocates and wind developers have their way. The first U.S. offshore wind turbines could be spinning in as little as three to five years if all goes well. The U.S. Interior Department is already conducting […]

The Bush administration falters in a geopolitical chess match

This is a guest essay from energy analyst Michael T. Klare. It was originally run on TomDispatch; it is reprinted here with Tom’s kind permission. —– Many Western analysts have chosen to interpret the recent fighting in the Caucasus as the onset of a new Cold War, with a small pro-Western democracy bravely resisting a […]