Articles by Grist staff

Kansas, Minnesota pledge to green up government computer systems

Think of states that are environmental frontrunners, and Kansas and Minnesota may not leap immediately to mind. But it’s those two that are taking the lead in reducing energy use from government computer systems. Teaming up with the industry-backed Climate Savers Computing Initiative, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) — […]

Why Bush’s water-bill veto was actually a good idea

Michael Grunwald, senior correspondent for

He was the toast of Congress earlier this year, but yesterday Bush was less popular.

Photo: whitehouse.gov

Hooray! The Everglades and coastal Louisana have been rescued! Activists and politicians alike are giddy over the news that Congress overwhelmingly overrode President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act yesterday. The override authorizes $5 billion worth of new Army Corps of Engineers projects for the dying Everglades and the devastated Louisiana coast, plus another $18 billion worth of new projects for the rest of the country. It was the first veto override of the Bush era, an unprecedented bipartisan rebuke to an anti-environmental White House. The Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, and the National Parks Conservation Association are celebrating. So are the elected officials of Florida and Louisiana, even Bush-friendly Republicans like Senators Mel Martinez and David Vitter.

You'd think I'd be fired up, too. I wrote a book about the plight of the Everglades. I wrote an angry Time Magazine cover story about the plight of coastal Louisiana. I hold no brief for the global warming denier in the White House.

But this time, Bush was right.

Simon & Schuster joins the ranks of greener publishers

Random House has done it. Scholastic has done it. Even a publisher of the Bible is going green. So hey, Simon & Schuster: welcome aboard! The publisher, which counts such notables as Stephen King and Ursula Hegi among its authors, has committed to increasing its recycled-paper content from the current 10 percent to 25 percent […]

Congress squabbles over how to spend oil fund … that doesn’t exist

There are plenty of reasons we’re glad we aren’t members of Congress. Tops among them? Having to argue, with a straight face, about who’s misspending money that doesn’t exist. This year, four different bills have each proposed spending $6 billion that’s expected to be collected from oil companies. The money would result from a fee […]