Uncategorized

Better Save Than Sorry

Energy conservation may finally be getting its moment in the sun: The Northwest Power Planning Council, a multi-state agency with a mandate to balance power production and environmental concerns in the Pacific Northwest, is asking Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Washington to invest in conservation measures rather than the construction of new power plants. According to […]

Delta Blues

Once upon a time, the Colorado River Delta — a plain the size of Rhode Island — supported a dazzling number of plant and animal species, and its annual flood cycles brought fresh nutrients to the delta. Today the Colorado is one of the most intensively managed rivers in the world, supplying water or electricity […]

Ashley Parkinson, Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign

Ashley Parkinson is coordinator of Seattle Audubon Society’s Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, which works to educate retailers and consumers about the benefits of shade-grown coffee. Monday, 7 Jan 2002 SEATTLE, Wash. Trust me, if you stand on any street corner in downtown Seattle and turn in a circle, you’ll see no less than four coffee […]

A Bad Case of Gas

The Montreal Protocol to heal the ozone hole is the poster child of successful environmental treaties; the general consensus is that as the treaty’s targets are met, the ozone hole will disappear, and the earth will be protected from the harmful ultraviolet radiation that leaks through. Not so fast, says the Environmental Investigation Agency, a […]

Sigh-onara

Not two months after the conclusion of the climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco, Japan is sending alarming signals that it will bow to industry pressure and break its pledge to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol and cut greenhouse gas emissions. An advisory council to the government is recommending that emissions cuts be voluntary for […]

The Race Goes to the Swift

The tiny swift fox has got friends in high places: Ted Turner has launched a campaign to save the rare mammal, which is the smallest North American wild dog. Through the Turner Endangered Species Fund, the billionaire media mogul is petitioning South Dakota for permission to trap 180 swift foxes in Wyoming and release them […]

The Shipping News

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reiterated yesterday that at-risk salmon populations wouldn’t be further endangered by a project to deepen the Columbia River for more shipping. The Corps said environmental improvements that would be undertaken along with the $188 million dredging project would actually upgrade conditions for fish in the lower river. The Corps […]

Coal in His Stalking

More bad news from the Bush administration: The U.S. EPA is planning to relax Clinton-era interpretations of the Clean Air Act by allowing owners of aging coal-fired power plants to upgrade their facilities without installing pollution controls. The policy change is bound to be unpopular with environmentalists, as well as with many Northeast states, which […]

Fuels Don’t Rush in

Environmental groups sued the U.S. government yesterday for violating a 1992 law requiring federal agencies to buy vehicles powered by alternative fuels. The suit, filed by the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Bluewater Network, charges 18 agencies for failing — in some cases miserably — to meet the terms of the […]

Tijuana Ass

For decades, raw sewage from Tijuana has flowed into the Tijuana River, north through the United States, and into the Pacific Ocean, violating U.S. clean water standards. Efforts to clean up the waste have bogged down in the double-bureaucracy that plagues cross-border negotiations, with fully one dozen Mexican and U.S. municipal, state, and federal agencies […]