Author

Zoya Teirstein, Grist

Zoya Teirstein, Grist

Zoya Teirstein is a staff writer at Grist, covering climate change and health.

What one school’s fight to eliminate PFAS says about Indian Country’s forever chemical problem

By: - August 17, 2023

Laurie Harper, director of education for the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School, a K-12 tribal school on the Leech Lake Band Indian Reservation in north-central Minnesota, never thought that a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, would be an issue for her community. That’s partly because, up until a few months ago, she didn’t […]

Boots on the Ground

By: - May 26, 2023

Stewart Rhodes, the infamous leader of the anti-government Oath Keeper militia, was standing on a street in Conroe, Texas, a city about 40 miles north of Houston. The sky was clear blue, but remnants of darker days were everywhere. Residents were shoveling up splintered lumber and debris. A boy holding a broom was halfheartedly scooping […]