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San Choakin’ Valley

A coalition of environmental organizations is suing the U.S. EPA today for failing to clean up the air in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Blackened by dust, smoke, and other pollutants, the region’s air is some of the nation’s worst — but neither the state nor federal government has come up with a workable plan to […]

Na’Taki Osborne, National Wildlife Federation

Na’Taki Osborne is the national leadership development coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation. She is also a fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program and cofounder of the Center for Environmental Public Awareness, a consulting organization that supports community groups working to achieve environmental justice. Monday, 21 Oct 2002 ATLANTA, Ga. “I woke up this morning […]

On Guard

An effort to beef up safety at U.S. nuclear power plants by requiring guards to work 12-hour shifts instead of eight may be backfiring: The guards, who have been working the longer shifts since Sept. 11, 2001, report that they are tired, prone to error, and, well, in a bad mood. The long hours have […]

Drain Canada

In response to the escalating energy demands of the United States, Canada has increased its oil production by nearly 50 percent in the past decade and its natural gas production by more than two-thirds. According to a report by the Sierra Club of Canada and the Natural Resources Defense Council, more than half of Canada’s […]

Sandy Ego

Southern California has finally come up with a plan to reduce its reliance on the Colorado River and keep water flowing to fast-growing San Diego. Since the 1930s, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and California have had an agreement to divvy up water supplies from the Colorado River, but California has guzzled more […]

High-drogen

The European Union is homing in on hydrogen as a way to meet its ambitious goals of generating 22 percent of its electricity and 12 percent of all energy from renewables by 2010. Energy independence is increasingly urgent for Europe, which imports a whopping 70 percent of its oil and gas from foreign sources, including […]

Viva Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nev., the desert-turned-oasis of slot machines, plastic pyramids, and indoor waterfalls, is now undergoing a new kind of metamorphosis: A former 10-mile-long sewage gully is being transformed into a wetlands park that will be one of the largest swaths of locally preserved land in the nation. For 25 years, the Las Vegas “Wash” […]

Whale Like a Banshee

After a 10-year struggle to reclaim its whaling rights, Iceland has finally gotten the green light from the International Whaling Commission to resume commercial hunting. The commission outlawed commercial whaling in 1986, but Iceland and Norway refused to accept the ban. Norway negotiated to remain part of the commission and hang onto its hunting rights, […]

Would You Like an Excise Tax With That?

British biodiesel users, beware of bobbies! Police in Great Britain have cracked down on users of the alternative fuel, most recently staging a bust that bagged more than a dozen motorists in the Welsh seaside town of Burry Port. Biodiesel is essentially refined vegetable oil that burns more cleanly than conventional diesel; as the folks […]

Quita Sullivan, Alternatives for Community & Environment

Quita Sullivan is staff attorney for Alternatives for Community & Environment, where she also directs a pro bono network of professionals to assist communities with environmental justice issues. She is a member of the Montaukett Tribe of Long Island, N.Y. and a fellow of theEnvironmental Leadership Program. Monday, 14 Oct 2002 ROXBURY, Mass. It seems […]