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Feet Don’t Fail Me Now

Kerry Delicately Attempts to Go Green and Sway Undecideds The environment rarely ranks high on lists of voters’ concerns, but in a close election, any advantage can be decisive. Thus Kerry’s delicate footwork on green issues. To court the eco-friendly Dem base, he has promised to push for 20 percent of U.S. electricity to come […]

Speech! Speech!

Environment Crops Up in Kerry’s Acceptance Speech John Kerry’s well-received speech at the Democratic National Convention last night saw the often-solemn senator rolling through impassioned lines quickly — some pundits said too quickly — and forcefully. Among those lines were several gems for the green-minded in the audience. The first substantive issue he mentioned was […]

Creative Problem Solving

Bush Administration Abandons EPA Pesticide Review Rule Say you’re a U.S. EPA official, and you’ve got a problem: Several enviro groups have accused your agency of skirting the rules that require you to have wildlife agencies review new pesticides to determine if they pose a threat to endangered species. One such group, the Center for […]

Particle Board

U.K. Nanotech Study Panel Urges Caution A publicly funded scientific panel in the U.K. convened to study the dangers and benefits of nanotechnology — the manipulation of particles less than 100 nanometers (0.0001 millimeters) in diameter — issued its report yesterday, and the results are, well, ambiguous. The scientists at Royal Society and Royal Academy […]

I Got Mine

Unprecedented Number of Drilling Permits Issued by Feds Last year, the Bureau of Land Management issued some 4,000 oil and natural-gas drilling permits; this federal fiscal year it’s on track to issue a record 6,000. This startling jump, which BLM geologist Richard Watson called “unprecedented in the history of the BLM,” is due almost entirely, […]

Bye Polar

Polar Bears Are in Peril The latest charismatic megafauna on the chopping block of the modern age is the polar bear. Despite the work of dedicated conservationists, polar-bear populations are declining and experts worry they may disappear entirely within decades. The problems are manifold. For one, toxic chemicals from industrial countries tend to settle in […]

The Methane Is the Message

Bush Unveils Methane Plan Yesterday, Bush administration officials unveiled a plan that would encourage the manufacture and export of technology to harvest methane emissions for use as a fuel. The administration pledged up to $53 million as seed money (expected to be matched by considerably more private investment) to help private companies develop the technology […]

Kerry, Kerry, Not Contrary

Kerry Set to Unveil Swing-State-Friendly Energy Proposals As Grist revealed yesterday, energy — or more specifically, the national-security and economic dangers of dependence on foreign oil — is to be one of John Kerry’s top four campaign issues. Kerry has traditionally sided with the conservation folks against the drill-drill-drill folks, and that has included support […]

Around the World in 28 Ways

Intrepid Travelers Highlight Green Issues And now we take a break for a moment from our customary gloom and doom to bring you a little inspiration — two tales of travel and eco-activism. First we have Chris Swain, who yesterday finished his eight-week, 315-mile swim down the Hudson River, during which he developed a rash […]

Stuporfund

Superfund Project Funding Still Inadequate According to the U.S. EPA’s own data, some 111 of the nation’s 1,230 Superfund toxic-waste sites may pose ongoing risks to nearby residents of exposure to health-threatening chemicals, and 251 may pose ongoing risks to groundwater. Superfund program analyst Melanie Hoff notes that at “about 80 percent [of Superfund sites] […]