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G-ratifying

In a legally binding decision, the 15 nations of the European Union agreed yesterday to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change by June. In doing so, the countries committed to an 8 percent total reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels — although they have not yet agreed on emissions targets for each […]

Horns a Plenty

A group of white rhinos, the world’s second-largest land mammal and once one of its rarest, is returning to its old stomping ground — Kenya’s Meru National Park, a reserve once so ravaged by poachers that all but one of the white rhinos that lived there were hunted to death. (The remaining one was removed […]

Motley Fuel

Is this creative problem solving, or utter madness? Diesel fuel, gasoline’s much-maligned stepsister, could be welcomed back into the energy fold if the auto industry has its way. Diesel fell out of favor in the U.S. two decades ago because it is smelly, pollution-causing, and carcinogenic. But faced with increasing demands for better fuel efficiency, […]

Elizabeth Grossman reviews The Birds of Heaven by Peter Matthiessen

What do Nebraska, Ngorongoro, North Korea, Outer Mongolia, England's Norfolk marshes, and the Australian Outback have in common? The crane -- the elegant, long-legged bird that adorns Asian scrolls, appears on bas reliefs at Angkor Wat and in 6,000-year-old Spanish cave paintings, is reproduced in origami and Chinese bronze, and chronicled by Aboriginal, Ainu and Cree storytellers, as well as by Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Aldo Leopold.

Without fair water distribution, the Middle East peace process is all dried up

A variety of explanations have been offered as to why Israel is reluctant to redistribute water resources. The most obvious reason is that doing so would require a change in Israeli lifestyles: no more private swimming pools and green lawns. But the motives go deeper than that, according to Robin Twite, director of the Environment […]

The Good Life

Re: Katie Alvord, author Dear Editor: My, how I enjoyed this “how-to” series. Although not a lifestyle I think I can completely embrace (at a guess I’m at least 30 years older than Alvord and … ah … not quite as fit), it helps me imagine additional ways to live by my principles. Ann S. […]

Deep Fix

The Natural Resources Defense Council and Idaho’s Snake River Alliance sued the Energy Department on Friday to prevent it from disposing of nuclear waste from military reactors in any way other than burial deep in the earth. In 1999, the Energy Department drafted rules to allow the difficult-to-remove waste left in the bottom of tanks […]

Singing a New Tuna

Following criticism from the Environmental Working Group, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will order an independent scientific review of its advisories for pregnant women about eating fish. Although widely regarded as a healthful, some fish can concentrate mercury in their fatty tissues. When eaten by pregnant women, the mercury can cause brain damage in […]

TRI Harder

Finally, some vaguely proactive environmental action from the White House: In a letter sent to the U.S. EPA today, the White House budget office called for better reporting of toxic industrial discharges to reduce the “considerable lag” between the gathering of data and its public release. Such information is published in the EPA’s annual Toxics […]

A River Doesn’t Run Through It

The Yellow River is China’s second-longest river and the cradle of a 4,000-year-old civilization; now, though, it’s drying up and life along its banks is changing forever. Much of the water in the Yellow River is diverted to arid inner provinces for agricultural purposes, leaving areas downstream without a stream at all. For example, in […]