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Generally Stalled Motors

General Motors Corp. is not doing nearly enough to improve the fuel economy of its vehicles, according to a report released yesterday. That might not seem like news, but the organization that released the report, the Boston-based Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, has been consulting with GM for almost 10 years and has been praised […]

At Least Their Breasts Won’t Catch Fire

But mothers have something else to worry about. Scientists and environmentalists are calling for a ban on a chemical flame retardant that has been shown to accumulate in breast milk. The chemical, polybrominated diphenyl ether, or PBDE, is commonly used in foam furniture and plastics to reduce risk of fire by up to 45 percent, […]

Girls Will Be Boys

Environmental toxins are disrupting human biology at the most basic level: reproduction. That was the conclusion of researchers at Michigan State University, who found that men with higher levels of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were more like to father boys than girls. PCBs are known to cause sex-related defects in animals (although the researchers […]

Frisco Ain’t Kidding

San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown proposed yesterday that his city pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Brown said the goal “is as much about protecting our national security as it is about protecting our environmental quality of life.” If the city’s Board of Supervisors passes Brown’s […]

No Doubt Aboot It

Canadian Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal said yesterday that his country would continue to back the Kyoto treaty on climate change. He said the same thing last Thursday. What’s the fuss? Canada has come under increasing pressure from the Bush administration to abandon the treaty. With only the best interests of our northern neighbors in […]

Leavitt, Eager Beaver

After kvetching for years about the national monuments set aside by former President Clinton across the West, Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt (R) called yesterday for President Bush to designate a 620,000-acre national monument protecting a red canyons area in the central part of the state. Enviros have long fought to protect the San Rafael Swell […]

Peak: A Boo

Heading to the mountains used to mean getting away from civilization and its discontents — but increasingly, mountains are a showcase for global problems instead. That was the conclusion of a report released yesterday by the United Nations, which found that wars, pollution, and logging are threatening the world’s mountain ranges. Mountains supply water to […]

New Canaan

By wedding commerce to conservation, a pending land deal in West Virginia’s Canaan Valley could signal a radical shift in land preservation strategy. Allegheny Energy, Inc., plans to sell 12,000 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will incorporate the land into the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The twist? Allegheny had the […]

Tony Rose, The Bushmeat Project

Tony Rose is founder of the Bushmeat Project and director of The Gorilla Foundation‘s Wildlife Protectors Fund, a nonprofit organization working to influence positive shifts in conservation values and conservation practices in equatorial Africa. Monday, 28 Jan 2002 HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. The first question that must be answered in any self-examination is, “Where am I?” […]

Honda of the Baskervilles

Disagreeing with American automakers, Japanese manufacturer Honda told the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee yesterday that raising fuel-efficiency standards for SUVs and other light trucks would not pose a safety threat. The split in the auto industry came to light as the committee discussed whether increasing the standards would make vehicles unsafe by causing automakers to […]