Articles by Grist staff

From Batman to Bra

Holy overused headline, Batman! Riddle us this, riddle us that, who’s afraid of dirty water in the land of Chow Yun-Fat? Nananananananana … Batman! Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures Corn stars The King Corn documentarians have decided to live corn free (as free as the wind blows …) for 30 days, cobbling together a diet sans […]

Portland, Ore., will pay builders to build green

Portland, Ore., has unveiled an innovative plan to slash greenhouse-gas emissions. The city will require an energy-efficiency inspection of new homes, then levy a tax on builders who have merely complied with Oregon’s efficiency requirements. Builders who construct homes 30 percent more efficient than the state building code requires will escape the fee; those who […]

Waterways downstream from oil sands are full o’ toxins, says study

Fish, water, and sediment downstream from the gigantic oil sands projects in Alberta are chock-full of carcinogens and other toxins, says a new study. While the research does not make a direct link between the oil sands, the toxins, and presumed health consequences, the largely Native residents of downstream community Fort Chipewyan have long suspected […]

FEMA prohibits employees from entering toxic trailers

Concerned about formaldehyde fumes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has prohibited its employees from entering thousands of stored trailers. And the hurricane victims living in some 50,000 trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi? Well, FEMA hasn’t gotten around to seeing if those trailers are toxic yet — last week, the agency postponed plans to begin testing […]