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The Fresh Prince of Bad Air

Just two weeks after their births, infants in the Los Angeles area have been exposed to more pollution than the U.S. government considers acceptable over a lifetime, according to a report released this week by the Washington, D.C.-based National Environmental Trust. The report, which looked at pollution levels in the L.A. region, the San Francisco […]

Natural Born Weed Killers

The cocktail of chemicals found in the most common herbicides used in home lawn care in the U.S. could reduce fertility and cause miscarriages, according to a study published today in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study does not name the brand of weed-killer tested, but the active ingredient — a mix of three phenoxy herbicides […]

Paul Horton, Climate Solutions

Paul Horton is cofounder and codirector of Climate Solutions, which is dedicated to stopping global warming by making the Pacific Northwest a world leader in practical and profitable solutions. Monday, 16 Sep 2002 MISSOULA, Mont. It’s Monday morning and I’m still a little bit disoriented from being back in one of my old home towns […]

Ground Down

Hoping to fend off the utter collapse of several groundfish populations, U.S. regulators voted on Friday to ban bottom-fishing next year on most of the continental shelf in the Pacific. The vote, by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, was geared especially toward protecting populations of nine types of rockfish — often sold in markets as […]

Fargone

Even though it lacks big cities and doesn’t have the smokestacks of say, an Ohio or a Texas, North Dakota is the only state in the country where the air in federal preserves is more polluted than the Clean Air Act allows. So says the U.S. EPA, which will decide soon whether to force North […]

Not So Jolly

An Italian ship carrying 400,000 gallons of diesel and fuel oil as well as highly toxic chemicals grounded yesterday just off a park in South Africa that is home to rare birds, fish, turtles, and plants. A fire has been raging on the Jolly Rubino for days, and the ship has come to rest seven […]

War Crimes

War can be hell on the environment, but in the case of Afghanistan, no one knows just how hellish. Under the auspices of the United Nations, five teams of foreign and local scientists are examining the impact of almost 30 years of fighting on the country’s natural resources. By December, the teams hope to identify […]

Sunny Delight?

No, you wouldn’t be on another planet if you saw this billboard: “Sun, 93,000,000 miles. Solar-powered station, the Bronx.” You’d be in Times Square, Manhattan, looking up at an advertisement for a BP filling station. However, don’t be thinking victory is at hand for enviros. The station doesn’t power up cars on rays from the […]

And other words from readers

  Re: Better Living Through French Fries Dear Editor: This is a great story and I’m glad that more folks will be educated about biodiesel, but you missed an even better point. There is another alternative to processed biodiesel: straight vegetable oil. No need to add lye or methanol or anything else. Just filter and […]

Mushroom Cloud

“There are practically no cases of radioactive watermelons this year,” was the triumphant announcement of Andrei Buyanov, one of Moscow’s corps of atomic food inspectors. Unfortunately for Muscovites, there were plenty of other radioactive fruits and vegetables. Moscow is 415 miles from Chernobyl, where an atomic reactor blew up in 1986; food found in the […]