Articles by Grist staff

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 […]

Oscars: green, but not braggy

As I reported last week, the Oscars went green(er) again this year. But if you watched the awards show last night, you might have noticed there was nary a mention of it, aside from a few jokes from Jon Stewart — quite a contrast to last year’s Al-and-Leo show. In other green-award-show news, the Independent […]

World fisheries still in danger of imminent collapse, says U.N.

When last we checked in on the world’s commercial fish stocks, they were in danger of collapsing within decades. And, sorry to say, they still are, according to a United Nations Environment Program report ominously titled “In Dead Water.” Factor in climate change, overfishing, and pollution “and you see you’re potentially putting a death nail […]

Brazil seizes huge load of illegal Amazon timber after riots

Brazilian troops and police seized about 500 truckloads of illegal hardwood timber from the Amazon rainforest over the weekend, following riots and protests by sawmill workers and others that had forced out environmental inspectors earlier in the week. After the inspectors were driven out, they came back days later with over 450 troops to confiscate […]