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Don’t Send Us the Bill

The Canadian government prorogued its parliamentary session this week, effectively killing a proposed Species At Risk bill. The bill would have banned the harassment, harming, or killing of endangered species on federal land, as well as destruction of critical habitat. The move represented the third time the Parliament has tried and failed to pass legislation […]

Sigh. Gone.

Vietnam is home to one of the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems — but the country’s natural environment has deteriorated rapidly over the last decade, according to a report released today by the World Bank. The report, “Vietnam Environment Monitor 2002,” found that of the nation’s endemic species, 28 percent of mammals, 10 percent of […]

My Even More Beautiful Laundrette

Last week, California Gov. Gray Davis (D) took on washing machines, signing legislation requiring them to be water-efficient by 2007; now the state’s South Coast Air Quality Management District has taken aim at a related target — dry cleaners. The district, which is responsible for cleaning up the air breathed by about half of all […]

Jersey, Sure!

In a slap in the face to former New Jersey governor and current U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, New Jersey plans to scrap an air-pollution-control program her administration had touted as a model for the nation. The Open Market Emissions Trading Program allows companies to pollute above permitted levels if they buy credits from other […]

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 […]