Articles by Grist staff

Satellite solar power plants could be coming soon to an orbit near you

Ooh, shiny: A federal study has concluded that orbiting solar power plants could soon become economically competitive, thanks to rising oil prices. Over a one-year period, sunlit satellites could generate nearly the equivalent of all the energy available in the world’s oil reserves, says the report from the National Security Space Office. In other news, […]

Judge delays work on border fence per insufficient environmental report

The Bush administration tried to “ram” through an insufficient environmental report and must temporarily cease work on a 1.5-mile-long section of fence on the Arizona-Mexico border, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle agreed with the Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club that federal agencies’ three-week-long environmental assessment seemed unnecessarily hurried, but […]

Right whales get safe haven off east coast of Canada, baby orcas high in PBDEs

The International Maritime Organization has approved a proposal to designate a 695-square-mile zone off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, an official Area to Be Avoided, hoping to lower the risk of ship collisions with endangered right whales that tend to congregate there from June through December. However, avoiding the zone is voluntary so ship […]

Stabilizing climate means embracing technology, public investment, and global economic development

The following is a guest essay by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, the latest in the ongoing conversation about their new book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility. —– This week saw a watershed moment for those of us committed to moving environmentalism from a politics of limits to […]