Articles by Grist staff

The Maoist That Roared

China tries to balance need for energy with environmental caution China’s economy, as we report with obsessive regularity, is growing like gangbusters, and with it grows the country’s need for energy. One response to this need is an aggressive push to develop nuclear energy: Conservative estimates project the commissioning of two new reactors a year […]

The Axis of Intransigence

U.S. pushes to remove global-warming references from disaster talks The U.S. delegation to an upcoming global conference on natural disasters is pushing to have references to global warming removed from the U.N. action plan to be ratified there. The document cites global warming as one factor among many leading to “a future where disasters could […]

Don’t Mess With Texas — Unless You’re Buying the Hot Dogs

Texas chemical plants cause problems for nearby residents The Houston Chronicle is running an investigative series on chemical plants and their effects on nearby residents, and it ain’t pretty. There’s a fair bit of evidence suggesting that companies dramatically underreport their annual emissions. On top of that, accidental leaks — or what the industry calls […]

Dirty Pretty Things

Two major cosmetic companies will omit harmful chemicals from products Revlon Inc. and L’Oreal USA have pledged to follow the European Union’s relatively strict new anti-toxics rule in formulating their perfumes, hair dyes, makeup, and other products for sale in the U.S. The two companies were convinced to take the step by San Francisco’s Breast […]