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The Sound of Science

“Sound Science” Movement Threatens Endangered Species Act Long-time opponents of the Endangered Species Act — perhaps the most efficacious, far-reaching environmental legislation in U.S. history — are back under a new guise. A movement to add “sound science” provisions to the act, while it sounds innocuous, actually threatens to paralyze enforcement. Inspired by a preliminary […]

King Mekong

Mekong Dams Could Wipe Out Some of Last Healthy Inland Fisheries Across the world, thirst for cheap electricity from hydroelectric dams has strained inland fisheries, and now one of the world’s last relatively wild rivers faces the same fate. The Mekong River flows some 2,800 miles from the Tibetan ice fields, through the mountains of […]

Rudolf Amenga-Etego beats back the privatization of Ghana’s water supply

Amenga-Etego. Photo: Dave Wendlinger. The western African nation of Ghana, tucked under the chin of the continent, is dominated by the enormous Lake Volta, a sprawling reservoir that arcs through the midsection of the country. Though there appears to be water, water everywhere, an estimated 70 percent of Ghana’s people lack access to clean, piped […]

No Campaign, No Gain

Kerry to Make Environment Central Campaign Issue As Earth Day approaches, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is publicizing his plan to make environmental protection a central campaign issue. This is a notable departure from Al Gore’s strategy in the 2000 election, wherein the Democratic candidate was muted on the issue, hoping to dodge the “environmental […]

General Discontent

State Attorneys General Object to Environmental Exemptions for Pentagon The Department of Defense’s attempt to exempt itself from several landmark environmental laws has kicked up a storm of resistance at the state level. Yesterday, 39 state attorneys general sent a letter to the chairs of four congressional committees, protesting draft legislation submitted by the Bush […]

Oh Say, Can You Sea?

U.S. Ocean Commission Calls for Action to Save Seas Our oceans are in trouble and we need to do something about it. This was the conclusion of the first comprehensive review of U.S. ocean policy in 35 years, released today by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. The presidential commission spent 2.5 years studying coastal […]

A clean-energy advocate and former V.P. candidate answers questions

What environmental organizations are you affiliated with? Honor the Earth and White Earth Land Recovery Project. What do your organizations do? Honor the Earth’s mission is to create awareness and support for indigenous environmental issues and to leverage needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable indigenous communities. Honor the Earth develops these […]

Rashida Bee of Bhopal, India, fights against the company that devastated her community

Shukla (left) and Bee. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize On the night of December 2, 1984, in the central Indian city of Bhopal, a massive poisonous gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide factory killed 8,000 people. Over the course of 20 years, the infamous disaster has caused an estimated 20,000 deaths, countless birth defects, and […]

Interviews with the 2004 winners of environmentalism’s top prize

The winners: (clockwise from left) Eugene-Richard, Kochladze, Goldman (cofounder of the prize), De Carvalho, Grueso, Bee, and Shukla. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize. The environmental movement often runs on the adrenaline of outrage, and the past year has provided more outrages than most. The White House has taken aim — and fired — at some of […]

Return to Sender

California Bill Aims to Curb Waste from AOL Disks If a California legislator has her way, companies that send unsolicited CDs and DVDs through the mail to state residents — we’re looking at you, AOL — will be required to include a postage-paid, pre-addressed envelope that recipients can use to send them back to the […]