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Train Has Left the Station

Republican Ex-EPA Chief Criticizes Bush “It’s almost as if the motto of the administration in power today in Washington is not environmental protection, but polluter protection.” Why, what sort of pinko environmental extremist would say such a thing? Meet Russell Train, a Republican, chief of the U.S. EPA under Nixon and Ford, co-chair of Conservationists […]

It’s Only a Model

Chesapeake Bay Progress Systematically Overstated Since the Chesapeake Bay Program — an alliance of the feds and several states — signed an agreement in 1987 to revitalize the ailing bay, it has been reporting steady progress, sapping local outrage and deferring lawsuits from enviros. Turns out, while the computer model that program scientists use to […]

Welsh Gambit

Welsh Village Adopts Long Name to Protest Wind Development Wind turbines are controversial in the U.K., where some people object to what they claim is the damage — both environmental and aesthetic — the turbines do to the landscape. When Gamesa Energy notified citizens of Llanfynydd in Carmarthenshire, Wales, of their plans to build a […]

Livin’ la Vida L’oppie

Trend Alert: Organic Professionals As everyone knows, a social movement is nothing until it is given a silly name, treated as a fad, trivialized, commodified, and ultimately destroyed by ravenous media. The latest trend to receive this dubious honor: organic professionals, or “oppies.” Modeled after the young urban professionals — or “yuppies” — we all […]

Advances With Wolves

Bush Administration to Remove Gray Wolf Protections Today the Interior Department announced a proposal to lift endangered-species protections from gray wolves across some two-thirds of the U.S., citing what Interior Secretary Gale Norton called a “dramatic” recovery. The gray wolf was almost extinct in the lower 48 states in the 1950s; two years ago, everywhere […]

‘N Sink

Oceans Absorbing Half of CO2 Emissions; Effects Uncertain According to studies published today in the journal Science, the world’s oceans have absorbed almost half of all the carbon dioxide emissions created by humankind since the beginning of the industrial era — some 118 billion metric tons. Yowza! The good news is that by serving as […]

In the Navy, You Can Wail the Seven Seas

Enviro Groups Claim Navy Sonar Harms Whales Speaking of oceans: Four enviro groups sent a letter to the U.S. Navy this week urging it to change the way it uses sonar so as to avoid harming charismatic sea-dwelling megafauna (that’s our pet name for whales around here). According to the groups, the Navy’s failure to […]

Hey, You, Get Off of My Cloud

Chinese Provinces Fight Over Cloud Seeding Hey, speaking of water debates, how’s this one for weirditude? In China — large sections of which are parched by persistent drought — the practice of cloud “seeding” is causing some truly 21st century water disputes. Cloud seeding involves using planes, special guns, and rockets (!) to spur the […]

D’oh Canada!

British Columbia to Sell Land North of Glacier National Park for Mining Despite strong reservations expressed by Montana state officials and citizens, British Columbia announced yesterday that it will proceed with the sale of land just north of Glacier National Park for exploratory drilling for coal-bed methane. Coal-bed methane is a kind of natural gas; […]

Mongo the Magnificent

Mongo Hunting Is the New Freecycling Here at Grist we’re big fans of freecycling, the goods-exchange system sweeping the U.S. (or, well, at least some rarified pockets therein). Author Ted Botha, however, is taking it to a whole ‘nother level, as the kids say. He set out to furnish his New York City apartment using […]