Articles by Grist staff

Midnight Oil frontman is Australia’s new environment minister

Peter Garrett, former singer for rock band Midnight Oil, has been appointed the environment minister in Australia’s new regime. Garrett, who has been a member of the Australian Parliament since 2004, will be a duet with new Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong.

FEMA sets deadline for Katrina trailer park closures

What’s worse than being a storm victim housed in a formaldehyde-soaked trailer that makes you sick? How about getting kicked out of said dwelling? FEMA has announced an accelerated schedule for moving 3,700 families out of trailers set up to house Hurricane Katrina refugees, pledging to be “with them every step of the way” as […]

EPA sued by 12 states over relaxed toxic-chemical rule

The U.S. EPA’s moves to relax the nation’s toxics reporting rule will not go unchallenged. Twelve states have announced they’re suing the agency over rule changes to the Toxics Release Inventory that allow companies to file less-informative reports and escape reporting if they release less than 5,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, up from the previous […]

Heat waves take a toll on Australian fruit bats

Climate change has, ahem, taken a swing at bats. Unable to deal with scorching heat waves, thousands of Australian fruit bats have flapped their wings, panted, drooled — then dropped dead. Which begs the question: Do bat researchers spend a lot of time yelling, “Quick — to the bat cave!” We really, really hope so.