Articles by Grist staff

Oil company Conoco agrees to offset carbon emissions from refinery project

California has reached a settlement with oil giant ConocoPhillips that requires the company to spend $10 million to offset greenhouse-gas emissions from a proposed refinery expansion in the state’s East Bay area. As part of the deal, the company will spend $7 million on as-yet-unspecified environmental projects in the San Francisco Bay Area as well […]

Municipalities try to encourage students to walk to school

Cities across the U.S. are turning their attention not only to green education, but to how students get to school. Forty years ago, half of all students walked or bicycled to the schoolhouse. Today, that number has dropped to 15 percent, while 60 percent of youths are toted in a car. The shift, brought on […]

Freegans get by just fine on others’ castoffs

Changed your light bulbs, gone vegetarian, sold your car, but still feel like your consumer impact is intolerable? It may be time to go freegan and learn to live off the waste that others throw out. Freegans gain most of their possessions and sustenance by foraging — for clothes, for furniture, and for grocery-store food […]

Pacific gray whale population may still be severely depleted

The Pacific gray whale, long held up as an environmental success story, may not have made as impressive a comeback as once thought. Thanks to a widespread ban on commercial whaling, the Pacific gray whale became the first marine mammal to be taken off the endangered species list in 1994. When whales began dying off […]