Uncategorized

Flotsam I Am

Ocean Riddled with Microscopic Plastic Particles Microscopic bits of plastic are ubiquitous in the world’s oceans, everywhere from the depths to the shorelines, reports a new study in the journal Science. It’s impossible to trace the exact source of the particles, but they are thought to be the result of plastic packaging, bags, and pieces […]

Apathy Not Endangered

Bush Rule Change on Salmon Not Likely to Affect Election Last week, when the Bush administration announced that it would count hatchery salmon along with wild salmon when determining what species to list as endangered — a move widely expected to lead to the de-listing of several species — Northwest politicians expressed outrage. Pundits fumed. […]

Whatever Floats Your House

Netherlands Prepares for Climate Change with Amphibious Homes Builders in the low-lying Netherlands have always used ingenious means to keep the water out: If not for a series of dikes and canals, some half of the country would be under water. But now, with climate-change scientists predicting rising sea levels and more frequent severe storms, […]

Buoys in the Hood

Hood Canal One of Growing Number of Dead Zones Hood Canal is dying in slow motion, victim of a growing oxygen-deprived “dead zone,” and there is little political will or means to save it. The misleadingly named body of water — it’s actually a fjord, closed on one end — is the deep-water arm of […]

Earth Still Round, Still Warming

New Study Fills in Missing Piece of Global-Warming Science A new study published in the journal Nature has filled in a crucial missing piece in the science of global warming — one that has served as a talking point for climate-change skeptics. At issue is a seeming discrepancy: The lower portion of the earth’s atmosphere, […]

Return on Investment

Energy Industry Cozy with Bush Administration, Says Report Most of the dirtiest power plants in the country are owned by 30 companies that, along with their trade association, have collectively raised some $6.6 million for President Bush and the Republican National Committee since 1999, says a new report. The companies’ intent, says Frank Clemente of […]

Saving Some Green

Green-Building Techniques Come to Low-Income Housing Eco-friendly building materials and techniques, once the exclusive province of upper-class enviros, are moving slowly but steadily down the income scale. In cities across the U.S., governments are offering a range of subsidies and tax breaks to developers of low-income housing, encouraging them to use energy-efficient boilers and appliances, […]

Going Apes

Great Apes Are Heading for Extinction Human beings’ endless efforts to kill each other have not reduced their overall numbers, but they may yet wipe out humanity’s closest genetic cousins, the great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans. Several of these charismatic — but apparently not charismatic enough — megafauna face extinction because of human […]

List Me Baby, One More Time

Group Petitions for Protection of Hundreds of Imperiled U.S. Species A coalition of enviro groups, scientists, and artists petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday to add 225 species to the official federal list of endangered and threatened species. The 225 are now on a candidate list that affords them no protection. It was, […]

Self Empowerment

California Businesses Hop on the Fuel-Cell Bandwagon A number of California businesses — rattled by the 2000 energy crisis, with its rolling black- and brown-outs, and the state’s generally unreliable electricity grid — are turning to hydrogen fuel cells to provide a reliable and self-generated source of power. The move is fueled (ahem) by the […]