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Johnny Panic-grass Seed

As New Zealand wrestles with the fate of very new crops, a seed bank in the U.S. Southwest is wrestling with the fate of very old ones. Based in Tucson, Ariz., Native Seeds/SEARCH preserves and passes on rare seeds planted by Native Americans. Although the growing conditions in much of the Southwest are harsh — […]

Flaming-goes

They’re thriving as campy lawn statues across America, but in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, the Caribbean flamingo is flirting with extinction — again. In the 1950s, the region’s flamingo population, Mesoamerica’s lone flamingo colony, dwindled to a mere 5,000 birds. But the population recovered in the sanctuary of the 200-square-mile Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, […]

Jonathan Clough, environmental modeler

Jonathan Clough is an environmental computer consultant based out of Warren, Vt. Monday, 22 Jul 2002 WARREN, Vt. The first thing you should know about a week in the life of an environmental modeler is that it is remarkably glamorous. Straight up glamour. Glamorous enough that 14-year-old girls write me fan mail and ask for […]

Jean Ne Sais Quoi

For months, Canada has been a question mark on the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, half-inclined to follow the cue of its stubborn southern neighbor and ignore the treaty, half-inclined to jump on board with the other industrialized nations of the world. Now, it appears that Prime Minister Jean Chretien is prepared to push forward […]

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 […]