Articles by Grist staff

Well, Uh, At Least No One Got Zero?

California, Vermont, Connecticut top ranking of energy-efficient states Less than a week after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) declared at an economic summit in Canada that clean energy is becoming the basis for “a new gold rush,” his all-star state has topped an energy-efficiency ranking issued by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Looking […]

Raptor ‘Round Their Fingers

U.S. suggests saving imperiled owls by shooting other owls Despite 17 years of conservation measures, the northern spotted owl is still in trouble. So the Bush administration has issued a cease-and-desist order on logging in the owl’s Pacific Northwest habitat. Ha ha ha! No, the feds’ recent draft spotted-owl protection plan instead vilifies the barred […]

An Ugly Alternative

In Colombia, biofuels push inspires land grabs, violence In case you need more evidence that biofuels are not the Big Green Conscience-Easing Solution: a disturbing pattern has emerged in Colombia, where vast palm-oil plantations are taking the place of tropical forests and farmland. Aid organizations working in the area say paramilitary gangs are seizing land […]

Or As We Like to Call It, Inept Development

Clean Development Mechanism comes under fire for incompetence World Environment Day not depressing enough yet? Check this out: the Clean Development Mechanism, a key emissions-reduction program under the Kyoto Protocol, is riddled with incompetence, rule-breaking, and possible fraud, The Guardian reports. The CDM allows nations to fund green-energy projects in developing countries instead of slicing […]