Grist Reviews

Grist is kinda the Rachel Dolezal of environmentalism. It aspires to center environmental justice and organizational equity, but these things just aren't in its DNA. I think the toxicity comments in other reviews here are broadly true. During my time at Grist, I watched a lot of strong writers lose confidence in their own writing because of conflicting/shifting editorial standards and warped incentive structures. The organization's mission/vision was reworked so many times it failed to mean anything. Senior management is masterful and generous with the non-apologetic 'we think that's important and it's something we're working on'. When I think about Grist, I feel tired. It was unclear whose words and ideas mattered.

During my time there, Grist made eight additional hires. Despite a lot of buzzwords like diversity, equity, and justice, all eight hires were white people. Some of the staffers made my time there intolerable as a person of color. For example, an editor casually said the n-word (the whole actual word) to me during a conversation. Another time, an editor posted a racist gif that was later taken down without explanation or apology to the staff or to the readers. On a different occasion, I had an editor explain to me that they "felt like a person of color at heart," in response to my describing the lack of diversity at the organization as a unique challenge for me. Meanwhile, my ability to communicate in the English language was called into question on several occasions by at least two different editors. I also found out that there was no use in me complaining. After the executive editor attempted to explain to me why it was sometimes acceptable to call indigenous peoples "savages," I complained to the president. I was laid off two months later.