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Dispatches from a solar-power training expedition
Walt Ratterman is program director for Green Empowerment, a nonprofit that promotes community-based renewable-energy projects internationally to generate social and environmental progress. Monday, 24 May 2004 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS Today was a day of training on Isabella Island in the Galapagos. It was also a holiday, so there was a celebration first thing in the morning […]
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Russian Coquette
Putin Commits Russia to Kyoto Protocol Well, we’ll be damned: Kyoto might just happen. After an international courtship worthy of a Harlequin romance, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that his country “will rapidly move toward ratification of this [Kyoto] protocol,” putting an end to months of teasing and contradictory signals (such a coquette!). […]
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Carbon Neutrality: the New Black
Celebs Pay Up to Be Carbon-Neutral It’s the latest hip trend in the entertainment world: carbon neutrality. Celebs from Brad Pitt [sound of young girls screaming] to Orlando Bloom [more screaming] to Bernardo Bertolucci [confused silence] are supporting Future Forests; the U.K. company promises to calculate a star’s total emissions of carbon dioxide for a […]
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Table Talk
Environment May Play Key Role in Presidential Election While it’s true that the environment ranks low on the general public’s list of concerns (eighth, according to a recent Gallup poll), in a presidential election widely expected to be a squeaker, every lever that can move a few votes is getting pulled. John Kerry is honing […]
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Something to HUD
Feds Withholding Info on Lead-Contaminated Public Housing If the comments of a senior federal housing official, captured on videotape, are to be believed, the government is withholding information on public-housing sites around the country that are contaminated by lead paint. Joseph Smith, deputy director of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control for […]
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Dr. Jekyll and Formaldehyde
EPA Develops Industry-Friendly Wood-Products Regulation How does the song go? “It’s all the same; only the names have changed.” This time around, it’s the wood-products industry. Since 2002, the U.S. EPA has been under court order to develop a regulation governing formaldehyde emissions from wood-products facilities. Formaldehyde is used as a binding agent in pressed-wood […]
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A Different Kind of Giant Sucking Sound
China Hoovering the World’s Raw Materials China is huge, its economy is exploding, and its consequent hunger for resources is having profound effects on the world’s economy and environment. Sure, you’ve heard it before, but trust us — it’s a big deal. Consider: According to the country’s own statistics, it consumed half of the world’s […]
