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Developing Nations Do It Faster

Population to Grow Rapidly in Developing Countries The world population is expected to balloon from 6.3 billion to 9.3 billion by 2050, and nearly 99 percent of the growth will take place in developing countries, according to comprehensive new population projections released yesterday by the Population Reference Bureau. Industrialized countries like Japan and most countries […]

Mo’ Emissions, Mo’ Problems

Enviro Group Pushes EPA for Sharper Emissions Regs Environmental Defense is pushing the U.S. EPA to increase the pollution reductions it is set to impose on power companies in December. If the agency required industry to invest a minimum of up to 50 percent more — for a total of $72 billion — 3,000 additional […]

Welcome to the Mo’ Hell California

New Study Predicts Hot, Dry Future for California According to a new study, global warming will leave California either really hosed or just moderately hosed, depending on the choices the world makes in coming years. Conducted by 19 prominent climate-change scientists, the study — published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences […]

A Plan Fiendishly Clever in Its Intricacies

Bush’s Small Tweaks to Regulations Carry Large Consequences In the third installment of its in-depth three-article series on Bush administration regulatory changes, The Washington Post today focuses on the way the administration circumvents public debate and legislation in favor of making small changes in regulatory wording that carry huge consequences — removing the word “hazardous” […]

The Chem Reaper

Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Slowly Gaining Recognition For years, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities has been dismissed by the mainstream medical community and most public officials as a phantom, a loosely related set of symptoms — everything from migraines to aches to vomiting — with no consistent physiological underpinning. But as MCS — which is characterized by adverse […]

Lease Us Not Into Temptation

Bush Administration Says It Will Delay Some Drilling On Monday, the Interior Department announced that it may delay some oil and gas drilling projects on federal lands until their effects on wildlife can be more adequately studied. This seemingly sharp break with the accelerated leasing of public land in the past few years came, according […]

Plowshares Into Swords

California’s Agricultural Industry Gears Up to Fight for GM Crops The nascent movement against genetically modified crops in California has spurred the state’s agricultural industry to action. Ballot measures banning the cultivation of GM crops have already passed in Mendocino and Trinity counties, and will appear on November ballots in Butte, Humboldt, Marin, and San […]

Peter Huhtala, an oceans defender, answers questions

Peter Huhtala. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I work with Pacific Marine Conservation Council, a West Coast nonprofit that brings together commercial and recreational fishers, marine scientists, environmentalists, and others who care passionately about the long-term health of our marine ecosystem and the communities that depend on the life of this ocean. My […]

Dain Bramage

Chemical Pollutants May Be Leading to Rise in Neurological Diseases The number of people suffering from neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s has risen sharply in industrialized countries, and according to a new report in the journal Public Health, chemical pollutants may be to blame. The incidence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias has more than […]

Look, Over There! A War!

With Public Attention Elsewhere, Bush Rolls Back Regulations The Bush administration, critics say, has taken advantage of the public’s distraction since 9/11 to govern via regulatory initiatives and rollbacks — which, unlike new laws, do not require congressional approval. Pro-business measures enacted by the Bushies include a rule allowing Forest Service managers to circumvent environmental […]