Articles by Grist staff

Percentage of 16-year-olds licensed to drive has dropped

The percentage of 16-year-olds with a U.S. driver’s license has decreased sharply in the last decade, from 43.8 percent in 1998 to 29.8 percent in 2006. Rising insurance costs, expensive driver education, and an increase in indoor pastimes are more likely to be driving the trend than environmental awareness — and sure, most yoots still […]

Governors are of varying minds when it comes to clean energy

At the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which concluded Monday, state leaders revisited a previously launched initiative called “Securing a Clean Energy Future” — and struggled with the reality that “clean energy” has very different meanings to different states. “Clean coal,” in particular, was boosted by coal states and eyed with skepticism […]

Gray wolves in northern Rockies lose endangered-species protections, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: He’s Back Hero or Zero? Across the Gray Divide Canada, a Tax! A Batt Out of Hell Coil in Fear Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Get the Hang Of It Sheath All That Stranger Than Fiction

Virgin Airlines flies first biofuel-powered plane, enviros unimpressed

Like a virgin, the world’s first biofuel-powered plane flew for the very first time from London to Amsterdam on Sunday. (Well, it was a little bit biofueled: One of the plane’s four main tanks was filled 20 percent with coconut and babassu palm nut oil.) Virgin mogul Richard Branson celebrated his conquest, and deflected concerns […]