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Bird Slaw

Compared to traditional energy sources (coal, oil, natural gas), wind energy seems like an environmentalist’s dream come true: It doesn’t pollute the air, land, or water, and it’s infinitely renewable. Indeed, wind energy has a reputation as being one of the greenest energy sources out there. So why are environmentalists trying to put a stop […]

Ex-siting

The U.S. EPA has restored Superfund monies to clean up 11 toxic sites, despite having told local officials at the sites that they would not receive any money this year. But only four of the sites will get the full amount requested by the officials. Last month, a report by the agency’s inspector general listed […]

Glacier Boggles

Alaska’s glaciers have been melting faster than previously thought and are responsible for more meltwater over the last half century than any other spot on Earth, according to a study published in today’s edition of Science. The 10-year study, conducted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, found that meltwater from the state’s glaciers […]

BK Whopper

Eighteen months ago, throngs of Filipinos gathered at a religious shrine for a rally that ended in the resignation of corrupt then-president Joseph Estrada. The massive turnout was widely attributed to mobile texting, with hundreds of thousands of Filipinos passing along messages encouraging people to attend. Now, the cell-phone-happy people of the Philippines are turning […]

Where the Sun Don’t Shine

Confirming fears of those opposed to genetic engineering, researchers in Great Britain reported this week that DNA from transgenic crops can find its way into the bacteria that dwell in the human intestines. In a study by scientists at the University of Newcastle, seven volunteers (all of whom had earlier had their lower bowels removed […]

On the Mexican coast, little shrimp are causing big trouble

Just above the high-tide mark on the coast of northern Mexico, elegant fingers of pitaya cacti rise far above the surrounding mesquite trees. Roseate spoonbills and frigatebirds sail silently overhead, a dolphin skirts the tangle of mangroves near the shore, and a fishing boat sputters out to the Sea of Cortez. On this muggy, almost […]

A Cartridge in a Pear Tree

It’s like a question some curious Grist reader might ask of Umbra, green guru extraordinaire: When your printer runs out of ink, what should you do with the empty cartridge? Turns out, plenty of schools and nonprofit organizations are collecting cartridges for recycling, motivated as much by good deals as good citizenship. Companies known as […]

Dredgers, Dredge Thyself!

In a sort of bureaucratic version of the ancient dictum, “Physician, heal thyself!”, the troubled U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced a plan to cleanse itself from within. Its leaders, including Civil Works Director Maj. Gen. Robert Griffin, have unveiled a three-tiered program to improve the Corps’ economic and environmental planning by enhancing internal […]

Hill’s Tree Blues

Just as some butterfly species head south every year, so apparently did Julia Butterfly Hill, the environmental activist who became an international cause celebre after she lived in a redwood tree in California for two years to protest planned logging in the area. Most butterflies don’t wind up in prison, but that’s precisely where the […]

Around the Underworld in …

If Don Delillo and Jules Verne had ever collaborated on a novel, they might have written the story that’s currently reaching its denouement in Pennsylvania: “Around the World with 14,855 Tons of Trash.” That’s how much garbage left Pennsylvania 16 years ago, destined to earn a reputation as the best-traveled and least-wanted waste in the […]