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Beauty and the Beasts

India’s tigers may be threatened by, of all things, rising demand for cosmetics. The growing market for talcum powder — widely used in lipsticks, eye shadows, deodorants, and other such products — is leading to the destruction of tiger habitat by illegal mining operations that sell talc to international cosmetics companies, including Revlon, Johnson & […]

Air Heads

California’s San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Board unanimously approved a plan yesterday intended to improve some of the worst air quality in the nation — but critics say the plan makes too many concessions to industry to be effective. Enviros, doctors, and residents who have suffered from respiratory ailments allege that efforts to reduce […]

Two Turntables and a Megapode

This week was for the birds — in a good way: Two previously endangered species seem to be enjoying a rebound. The population of the once desperately rare Polynesian Megapode has doubled and the bird could soon be removed from the list of critically endangered species maintained by the World Conservation Union. The species is […]

Pesticide or Spermicide?

Frogs and men, beware: Pesticides are your enemy. Men exposed to pesticides commonly used on crops are far more likely to have defective sperm and low sperm counts than men who are not exposed, according to a study published yesterday in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study is the first to show a link between environmental […]

Give a Hoot, Eh?

The amount of dangerous industrial contaminants seeping into Canada’s environment has risen 20 percent since 1995, according to a report by three environmental organizations that compiled data from industrial polluters. The biggest increase came in discharges into lakes and rivers, which rose 37 percent, while air and land pollution each rose 9 percent. The increase […]

South Parks

A plan to privatize a string of national parks in sub-Saharan Africa has garnered support from former South African president Nelson Mandela, the World Bank, and the U.S. State Department, among others. The plan grew out of a 1998 meeting between Mandela and Paul van Vlissingen, a Dutch tycoon and conservationist, at which Mandela expressed […]

Grazing a Ruckus

After years of rancorous fighting, a group of Idaho environmentalists and ranchers are close to agreement on a plan that would give federal wilderness protection to more than 400,000 acres in the Owyhee canyon lands of southern Idaho. The deal would also let ranchers trade grazing leases for parcels of public land and assure ranchers […]

Jill Rosenblum, The Natural Step

Jill Rosenblum is director of communications and outreach for the U.S. office of The Natural Step, an international research and advisoryorganization working with corporations, governments, scientists, and academics to accelerate global sustainability. Monday, 16 Jun 2003 SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. It’s a beautiful day in San Francisco, sunny and 70 degrees, and as I write this […]

Tangled Up in Deep Blue

Each day, nearly 1,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises are sent to an untimely death after they get tangled up in nets and other fishing equipment, according to a new study conducted by American and Scottish scientists and released by the World Wildlife Fund. These accidental captures may be the biggest threat to the sea mammals’ […]

Nature Conservancy Goes Back to Nature

The Nature Conservancy, which was sent reeling last month after a series of Washington Post articles exposed embarrassing problems and questionable practices within the organization, has announced a number of policy reforms decided upon in a board meeting last week. TNC, the world’s wealthiest environmental group, will stop drilling for oil on land it controls, […]