The word "Zion" means a peaceful paradise -- and for the past two years, Zion National Park has lived up to its name. Two summers ago, the famed Utah destination became the first national park in the continental U.S. to ban automobiles during peak visitor season. The resulting changes have been dramatic: fresh air, peace and quiet, the sounds of nature, and the return of wildlife. Before the ban, 2,000-odd cars and tour buses competed every day for just 400 parking spaces; now, three dozen eco-friendly propane buses drop off visitors at eight different trailheads in the park. It cost …

Living on the coast is often a lose-lose situation -- beaches erode, and big storms take out pricey homes -- but that hasn't seemed to quench the thirst for development along the Florida shoreline. Rather than discouraging beachfront development to protect property owners and the environment alike, state laws and practices promote such development and leave taxpayers to foot the bill for rebuilding eroded beaches. Since 1978, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has approved almost 5,000 permits to build on land subject to erosion, and denied just 52. Similar development and spending patterns -- coastal construction approved by the …

In an unusual shake-up of traditional alliances, ranchers and environmentalists are banding together in Colorado to fight a common enemy: urban sprawl. In Custer County, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, three conservation groups and six ranchers have signed a covenant limiting the kind of development permissible on the land -- no trophy homes, no golf courses, no condominiums. The result? An 11,000-acre swath of green that will ensure that ranchers still have the wide-open lands they need for their cattle, while also guaranteeing that subdivisions and other signs of creeping suburbia will be kept at bay. …

The Bush administration is asking a federal judge to put the kibosh on a settlement that it reached 19 months ago with environmental groups to protect endangered manatees off the coast of Florida. The feds last year agreed to tighten procedures for issuing permits for waterfront development plans that might affect manatee habitat; they also said they would create manatee refuges where boating would be limited or prohibited. Enviros, in turn, agreed to stop pushing for a moratorium on all waterfront development in 32 Florida counties. Now, the feds say they goofed, failing to go through the proper regulatory hoops …

Honda predicted yesterday that one of its hydrogen-powered fuel-cell cars could hit the road in California by the end of the year. The forecast came after the auto manufacturer's FCX became the first fuel-cell car to be certified by the U.S. EPA and the California Air Resources Board as a low-emissions vehicle. Honda hopes to have 30 of the four-seaters operating in California and Tokyo within three years. One drawback of the car: It can travel only 220 miles before refueling, and hydrogen pumping stations are extremely rare. Therefore, the first drivers of the vehicles will likely be the lucky …

California Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed trailblazing legislation yesterday that will require automobile manufacturers to reduce the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions coming from the tailpipes of passenger vehicles in the state. Under the terms of the new law, the California Air Resources Board has until 2005 to set "maximum" but "economically feasible" emissions standards for gases that contribute to climate change; new automobiles sold in the state must meet those standards by 2009. In signing the law, Davis said, "I would prefer to have Washington take the lead, but in the absence of that we have no choice but to …

A standoff between farmers and the Mexican government over the construction of a new international airport is threatening to become a national crisis. The $2.5 billion, six-runway project has irked environmentalists since it was first proposed, because the airport is slated to be built on a former lake bed that is an important nesting ground for birds and is expected to worsen problems of urban sprawl. Environmentalists aren't the only ones who are upset: Area farmers have taken 15 hostages and are refusing to release them until the airport construction plans are halted. The government has offered the farmers about …

Global standards of living will plummet by mid-century unless human beings drastically decrease their use of natural resources, according to a report issued yesterday by the World Wildlife Fund. The main culprits in the overuse of resources are the world's richest countries: the U.S., Canada, Japan, and most of Western Europe, according to "Living Planet Report 2002." The report found that more than 20 percent more natural resources are used every year than can be regenerated, meaning that by 2050, a second Earth would be necessary to meet human demand. To mitigate the problem, the report suggested using technology to …

Barge traffic could grind to a halt on a 250-mile stretch of the Missouri River, after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled last week that two endangered species of shorebirds cannot be moved to accommodate the release of water from two dams in South Dakota. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to release water from the dams to raise the level of the drought-stricken river. Doing so would have required relocating piping plovers and least terns, which nest on sandbars and islands in the Missouri, but the move was nixed by the USFS in the interest of protecting …

Washington, D.C., is cursed with some of the heaviest traffic and worst air pollution in the country. But the obvious solution -- reducing the number of drivers on the road -- faces a major obstacle: the federal government, which supplies free parking, thereby eliminating a major incentive to take public transportation. The federal government is the biggest employer in D.C. and owns some 38,000 parking spaces in the city and surrounding areas. It also pays for thousands more parking spaces, all at taxpayer expense. (The National Institutes of Health alone provides 8,844 free parking spaces on its main campus and …