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A Bug’s Death

The “splatometer” is poised to become the next hip conservation tool. Worried that insect numbers seem to be falling in Britain, and that the drop may be leading to a decline in birds, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is gearing up for a nationwide survey next year to gather data on insect […]

An All-American 4th of July

Kirk Henderson, Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management Program

Kirk Henderson is program manager for the Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management Program, a project of the Native Roadside Vegetation Center at the University of Northern Iowa. Monday, 30 Jun 2003 CEDAR FALLS, Iowa In 1989, Iowa passed a bill creating a new state program — Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management (IRVM). Groundwater protection was the objective. […]

The Rhode to Recovery

Enviros and river lovers are celebrating the remarkable recovery of the Blackstone River in Rhode Island, the result of a 30-year grassroots effort to clean up what locals once dubbed the Black Hole of the Northeast. The river, lined by many industrial revolution-era mills, had suffered from more than 200 years of pollution and was […]

The Feminine Mistake

Water contaminated with residue from birth-control pills can bend the gender of male fish, according to Canadian researchers who presented scientific findings last week to the American Chemistry Council. In the most controlled experiment to date to examine the effects of estrogen on ecosystems, Canadian scientists deposited birth-control pills in a remote lake in Ontario […]

A Pregnant Pause

Women who were exposed to the pesticide DDT while in the womb had more difficulties getting pregnant as adults than did those who had no exposure, according to a new study published in the British medical journal Lancet. “This is the first research that shows it is possible that these exposures can cause problems 30 […]

Pump and Circumstance

The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will hear a case about the Florida Everglades that tests the scope of the federal government’s ability to fight pollution. At issue is how much power the feds have in controlling the amount of water pumped across the Everglades basin. State water managers say they should not […]

Welcome to the Ex-jungle

The rate of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest jumped 40 percent in 2002, with 9,840 square miles of forest lost, according to figures released this week by Brazil’s Environment Ministry. That loss — the highest since 1995 — prompted alarm among environmentalists and pledges by the Brazilian government to implement emergency measures to protect the […]

Umbra on hot air balloons

Dear Umbra, There’s a Hot Air Balloon Festival going on in the Hudson Valley right now and I’m watching balloons out my window wishing I had the nerve to go up in one, while also wondering how bad they are for the environment. This isn’t just mild curiosity; you could literally make or break my […]

And other words from readers

  Re: Boycotts Will Be Boycotts Dear Editor: The entire concept of powered personal vehicles is foul, and driving has many more serious effects than air pollution, or even than inspiring oil wars: It facilitates sprawl, which cannot exist in any significant form without the automobile; it requires more and more paving, which affects not […]