Articles by Grist staff

EPA sued over ship emissions, smacked over 9/11 cleanup

The Environmental “Protection” Agency faced two major slams yesterday, from east and west. In Washington, D.C., the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office issued a report scolding EPA for its post-9/11 cleanup efforts, saying the agency’s approach to toxic indoor contamination in buildings near the site is misdirected and ignores New Yorkers’ health concerns. The report “confirms […]

Penguin populations in trouble, climate cited as one cause

Photo: iStockphoto First, the good news: there’s an International Penguin Conference! Who knew? Now, the bad news: at said conference, taking place this week in Tasmania, a team of researchers has reported that the world’s penguins are in trouble. The 17 species “face serious population decreases throughout their range,” the team wrote, adding that officials, […]

Japan offers Micky D’s as reward for climate change promises

Today, in Japan: A Japanese government website crashed Wednesday as people raced to take up an offer of a half-price McDonald’s hamburger in exchange for pledging to fight global warming. … People were asked to check up to 39 boxes on a form they could download from the environment ministry’s website, each listing a way […]

Atlas makes significant changes to maps due to human activity

The editors of the Times Atlas made significant changes to their newest edition to reflect altered coastlines and shrinking lakes affected by climate change and unregulated irrigation. The last edition of the Atlas, which is published in Britain, came out in 2003; the newest edition contains “half a dozen major examples of how human activities […]