Articles by Grist staff

Interior Department urged to redo recovery plan for spotted owl

Was the Interior Department’s recovery plan for the northern spotted owl watered down because of political pressure to favor logging interests? Six peer reviews of the plan (five of them funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) suggest yes. So do 113 scientists who sent a letter yesterday asking the Interior Department to rewrite […]

A dispatch from the Congressional Black Caucus conference

The following is a guest essay by Lauren Trevisan, environmental justice program assistant for the Sierra Club.

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Appropriately, the theme of this year's 37th annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., was "Unleashing Our Power." For the first time in history, the U.S. House of Representatives has four African-Americans serving as chairpersons of major committees. In addition, 17 African-Americans lead major subcommittees, and Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina is the House Majority Whip. Activists and health experts hope that this change in leadership will help enact serious environmental justice legislation to promote safe and healthy communities.

Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama drew a large crowd for his session on global warming. More than 1,000 people crowded in to hear Sen. Obama call for a comprehensive study of climate change impacts on low-income communities. He highlighted the job opportunities for young Americans that would stem from investment in retrofitting and renewable energy. Increased investment in public transit, Obama added, would help reduce carbon emissions and help low-income communities.

But the best discussion of the day came from an annual panel called the Environmental Justice Braintrust. Clyburn convened this panel discussion for the ninth consecutive year. Panelists ranged from policy makers to medical professionals to civil rights attorneys, all of whom have been working to fight environmental injustice for decades.

U.K. judge rules Inconvenient Truth partisan but still OK to show in schools

A judge has ruled on a British citizen’s accusation that the United Kingdom’s distribution of An Inconvenient Truth to secondary schools amounts to political indoctrination. And the strange, strange verdict is: Yes, the documentary can be shown in schools — as long as teachers follow guidelines to not promote Al Gore’s “partisan political views” to […]

California A.G. petitions feds to regulate shipping emissions

California Attorney General Jerry Brown will join with environmental groups today to petition the Bush administration to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from ocean-going vessels. Shipping accounts for up to 5 percent of global GHG emissions, a number expected to grow 75 percent in the next 20 years. Ocean-going vessels make 11,000 calls at California’s ports each […]