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Gopher It!

Twelve ethanol plants in Minnesota signed on to an unprecedented agreement with state and federal EPA officials earlier this week, agreeing to pay pollution fines and update their emissions-reduction technology. An official at the U.S. EPA said ethanol plants across the country would be expected to follow the lead of the Minnesota plants. A spokesperson […]

Orange You Glad?

The District Attorney’s office in conservative Orange County, Calif., is beefing up its environmental crime division to become one of the most rigorous eco-SWAT teams in the nation. While resources for pursuing environmental criminals have been dwindling in many other areas in the state, Orange County has tripled its budget in the last three years […]

Gulf War Syndrome

Environmental damage in Kuwait stemming from Gulf War activities was far more severe than originally thought, according to a U.N.-financed study whose preliminary results were released yesterday. The study found that pollution from torched oil wells not only filled into the sky, but also seeped into the ground; further, the salt from seawater used to […]

Talk Amongst Yourselves

You have passionate feelings about sea turtles and are dying to discuss the above-mentioned article with someone — but your coworkers (or spouse or parents or children) think you’re utterly insane and would rather talk about the Diamondbacks. What’s a loquacious environmentalist to do? Announcing The Gristmill, Grist Magazine’s brand-spankin’-new discussion forum, where you can […]

Canal One

Can the Panama Canal, a relic of the Industrial Revolution, survive in the modern era? That is the question that is haunting Panama, which depends on the canal’s revenue-generating power to help ensure economic stability. As ships grow ever larger, fewer of them are able to squeeze through the narrow canal, despite a $1 billion […]

Holey Ozone, Batman

The ozone hole over the South Pole is roughly a third smaller than its average in recent years and it has split in two, according to researchers at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA. Last month, the hole (actually a thinning of the layer of ozone that protects the Earth from ultraviolet […]

Alana Paul, Tulane Office of Environmental Affairs

Alana Paul, a junior at Tulane University, works as an energy and climate change specialist in the school’s Office of Environmental Affairs. She is majoring in anthropology and environmental policy. Monday, 30 Sep 2002 NEW ORLEANS, La. Hello from N’Orleans! After living here for three years, I have grown very attached to this city. The […]

Have Plutonium, Will Travel

The Smog Monster

Forty-nine years ago, in November 1953, New York City was stricken with a six-day siege of air pollution so fierce that it killed or contributed to the deaths of 25 to 30 residents a day. That was before scientists really understood what was darkening the skies and choking people on the street. In some respects, […]

Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Where Did All the Protesters Go?

Nearly three years after some 20,000 anti-globalization demonstrators all but shut down the city of Seattle, a fraction of that crowd showed up to protest this weekend’s meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C. The disappointing turnout (police, of whom there were plenty, placed the numbers at between 3,000 and […]