Articles by Grist staff

Green group highlights biz innovations

The Environmental Defense Fund has produced a new report highlighting processes, products, and technologies that are making the biz world more eco-friendly. The green group’s Innovations Review 2008 draws attention to developments good for both business and the environment. The report focuses specifically on innovations on the cusp: not yet widely implemented, but not still […]

Biofuel-bound grasses are often invasive species

As biofuel sources go, weeds and grasses are looked on with more favor than land-ravaging, food-price-raising corn and palm. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch-in-your-tank, says a paper presented by green groups at a United Nations meeting Tuesday: “Some of the most commonly recommended species for biofuels production are also major invasive […]

Snippets from the news

• Competing forest studies spar over CO2. • Chemical-safety bill introduced in House. • Big investors call on Congress to tackle climate change. • Fisheries Service considers Makah whaling request. • Al Gore receives yet another prize.

Caribou numbers declining in Alaska and Canada

Hello, and welcome back to The Plight of Arctic Wildlife. Previously we’ve covered polar bears, narwhals, seals, and walruses — today we’re going to tackle caribou. (Well, not literally.) After years of steady growth, Alaska’s largest caribou herd lost 20 percent of its population between 2003 and 2007, according to the latest count. The Western […]