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Utah, You’ve Been Norton’d!

Interior Department protecting Utah rivers from wrong threat Last month, Interior Secretary Gale Norton splashily announced the Three Rivers Withdrawal: Nearly 200 miles of prized territory along Utah’s Green, Colorado, and Dolores rivers would be withdrawn from consideration for new hard-rock mining claims. The proposal had been on her desk for 18 months, so some […]

The environment and foreign policy

No presidential debate has ever provided much succor for environmentalists, but last night's was literally devoid of any mention of environmental issues, save one:  In a discussion of Bush's tendency to be "certain but wrong," Kerry wedged "global warming" into a list of subjects about which the president is ignoring facts.

What's significant is not just that green issues were passed over, but that they were passed over in a debate focused on foreign policy.  In the U.S., environmentalism is still considered a matter of domestic politics, a "special interest."  It is frequently portrayed as a lifestyle quirk, a preoccupation of the leisure class -- as when Dick Cheney notoriously dismissed energy conservation as a "sign of personal virtue."

But in years to come, environmental problems will likely manifest primarily as foreign policy issues.  Sir David King, Tony Blair's chief science advisor, got an avalanche of press recently for baldly asserting that climate change is a greater danger to the world than terrorism.  

It was an artless way of making a perfectly legitimate point.

Pop Goes the Diesel

Partnership formed to fight diesel fumes The U.S. EPA this week announced the formation of a partnership to undertake voluntary, cooperative measures to reduce the impact of diesel fumes on Western states. (Diesel fumes, for those of you tuning in late, kill people. Lots of people.) Most of the money funding the measures will come […]

Reagan enviro official still running afoul of the law

Rita Lavelle, who ran the Superfund program during the Reagan years and was locked up for lying to Congress about it, may be headed to the slammer once again. On Monday, a federal jury convicted her of scheming to defraud a client who hired her consulting firm to clean up a toxic work site in Los Angeles, the L.A. Times reports. She faces 15-24 months in the clink. Old habits die hard, it seems.  

(Feeling nostalgic? Check out a fun recap of enviro doings during the Gipper's reign.)

Living for the City

San Francisco unveils plan to fight global warming Saying that global warming “is a real and looming threat to our economy, our public health, and our environment” to which the Bush administration “is not paying attention,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) this week unveiled a plan to reduce the city’s greenhouse-gas emissions to 20 […]

Formaldehyde and Seek

Enviro groups appeal lax EPA regs on formaldehyde In an era of serial outrages, even the most battle-hardened enviros were astonished by a U.S. EPA rule issued last spring: The rule exempted so-called low-risk wood-product factories from strict pollution controls, ignoring federal and independent health data on the dangers of formaldehyde — emitted during manufacture […]

A new resort complex threatens a Japanese paradise

The elusive and endangered yamaneko. Photo: Makoto Yokotsuka. The Iriomote cat is a survivor. For centuries, it employed the surest survival technique of all — avoiding humans — before being scientifically described for the first time in 1967 by Dr. Yoshimori Imaizumi of Tokyo’s National Science Museum. Its home, Iriomote Island, is one of the […]

Creature Comforts

A new push for protecting sharks and lions Despite the relative infrequency of its attacks on humans, the great white shark has achieved a fearsome reputation, thanks largely to the 1975 film “Jaws.” Viewed with trepidation and fascination, it is now a prized catch for trophy hunters, who sell its jaws and teeth at great […]

Readers sound off on the Republican National Convention, barbecue, and more

    Sippin’ on Spin and Juice Dear Editor: I was astonished to read in Amanda Griscom’s column that many major environmental groups opted out of the protests in New York City against the Republican National Convention. By siding with the Republican-propagated view that these protests were likely to be violent, they allowed themselves to […]

My Pet Goat

Masai tribes eye white settler land in Kenya The Masai tribespeople of Kenya are running out of land for their herds of goats, cows, and sheep, and they are starting to covet the vast swaths controlled by the country’s white settlers — land that contains copious wildlife, including endangered species like the black rhino. The […]