Uncategorized

Ritu Primlani, Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education

Ritu Primlani is the founder and executive director of Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, a nonprofit that, among other things, provides environmental education to ethnic restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area. She is a fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program. Monday, 19 May 2003 BERKELEY, Calif. Lately I have had the urge to pray. […]

Sadder Day in the Park

Summer is just around the bend, and with it, people all over the country will begin their annual pilgrimages to U.S national parks. Unfortunately, the parks aren’t ready for them: They are underfunded, over-crowded, and in disrepair. The National Park Service budget has declined almost 20 percent in the last 25 years, while the park […]

Money for Nothing and Your Trees for Free

As many as one in 10 trees removed from national forests in the U.S. is cut down illegally, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The problem plagues the entire nation, from the Adirondacks to the Olympics, and is not restricted to public forests: Tree theft is also common on land owned by lumber companies and […]

Green Washing?

With eco-friendly marketing all the rage, companies are increasingly exploiting the term “organic” to sell their products — regardless of how good those products are for consumers or for the environment. That’s especially true when it comes to soaps, shampoos, conditioners, scrubs, lotions and the like, whose labeling practices (unlike those of food products) aren’t […]

A Loophole in the Ozone

Ending a six-year battle, the U.S. EPA reintroduced proposals yesterday for new standards to combat ozone, which causes smog. At issue in the battle was whether the ozone-pollution controls outlined by Congress in the 1990 Clean Air Act should apply to moderately polluted metropolitan areas. The act divided polluted areas into categories ranging from mild […]

Kohe Malama Malama O Kanaloa (We Just Like Typing That)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reduce the number of acres designated as critical habitat in Maui, Hawaii, by about 25 percent compared to last year, leaving some 93,200 acres protected for 59 threatened and endangered species. In nearby Kaho’olawe, the agency will reduce critical habitat designations by 85 percent, to just 3,000 acres, […]

Their Dumpsters Runneth Over

They’re talking trash in Naples, Italy — literally. For the past week, the city and its suburbs have been overwhelmed by garbage, which is oozing from dumpsters, blowing down sidewalks, causing school closures, blocking traffic, and dominating local conversation as residents and city officials alike wonder what to do about it. Although a solution is […]

And other words from readers

  Re: Administrophic Dear Editor: Thanks for the link [to a log of the Bush administration’s environment-related activities], and I really mean that, even though I am a registered Republican. The only thing I did not like about this column was that a hated Democrat was using your forum to dig up dirt on Republicans. […]

There’s Other Fish in the Sea. But Not Many.

Ninety percent of the world’s largest and most economically important fish have disappeared due to a half-century of industrial fishing, according to a groundbreaking study published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. The study found that modern fishing has become so efficient that it can decimate 80 percent or more of a given species […]

To What Porpoise?

Numerous species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises are dwindling and could go extinct within the next decade, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) warns in a report released today. Take the baiji, a freshwater dolphin found only in China’s Yangtze River: Surveys taken in 1985 and 1986 estimated the total population of the species to be […]