Articles by Grist staff

Ship crashes in San Francisco Bay, leaks 58,000 gallons of oil

A container ship larger than the Titanic collided with San Francisco’s Bay Bridge on Wednesday, tearing a 160-foot gash in its hull and spilling at least 58,000 gallons of oil. The leak nauseated some bystanders, closed down beaches and fishing, and could threaten the health of seals, birds, and other wildlife. The spilled substance, known […]

Food companies damaging climate through deforestation, says new report

The makers of such familiar products as Pringles, KitKat, and Philadelphia cream cheese are contributing to deforestation and climate change, says a new report from Greenpeace. Companies like Unilever, Kraft, and Nestle use palm oil from Indonesia in their products. And guess what happens in Indonesia when the palm-oil peddlers come calling? Virgin forests are […]

Clinton, Daley to green Sears Tower, other Chicago landmarks

The tallest building in North America is officially going green, along with a few of its Windy City counterparts. At a green building expo in Chicago yesterday, former President Bill Clinton and eterna-Mayor Richard Daley announced a partnership to retrofit landmarks including the Sears Tower and the Merchandise Mart, the nation’s largest commercial center. Using […]

Misleading Shell Oil ads removed from British media

Shell Oil has removed ads from Britain’s media after the country’s Advertising Standards Authority criticized the company’s claim to consumers that “we use our waste CO2 to grow flowers.” A complaint from activist groups estimated that perhaps 0.325 percent of Shell’s emission of poor, misunderstood CO2 emissions are used to grow flowers.