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Whoop-de-do

Folks who happened to be scanning the skies in central Wisconsin yesterday were witness to a strange sight, as people in bird costumes flying ultra-light aircraft led a flock of nine whooping cranes on the first leg of a 1,250-mile migration. The flight was part of an experiment to teach the extremely rare birds to […]

The Bt Goes On

The U.S. EPA yesterday approved for another seven years the use of a controversial bio-engineered corn that produces its own pesticide. Researchers concluded that Bt corn poses no environmental or human health risks, but environmentalists and consumer-advocacy groups have expressed fears that the long-term health effects are unknown and that the crop will lead to […]

Parknost

Dormant plans for an international park spanning the Bering Strait have been revived, thanks to a gung-ho new governor in the Russian Far East. Under the last governor of Chukotka, western tourists and researchers got the cold shoulder, but Gov. Roman Abramovich is welcoming joint programs with Alaska, including research, conservation, tourism, and economic ventures. […]

The Big Chill

Snowmobiles are getting a chilly reception in Yellowstone National Park, with more than 80 percent of public comments supporting the Clinton administration’s plan for phasing out the noisy, polluting vehicles. Last year, the National Park Service decided to eliminate snowmobiles in the park, beginning with a 50 percent reduction by the winter of 2002-03 and […]

Log-gonnit

A coalition of 13 environmental groups kicked off a campaign yesterday to halt all old-growth logging on federal lands, reinvigorating an often bitter battle between environmentalists and loggers in the Pacific Northwest. Logging on federal lands has declined substantially in the last decade, and now accounts for less than 2 percent of the Northwest’s economy. […]

I Can Believe I Hate the Hole Thing

There’s good news and bad news in the ozone hole department this year. The good news is that the hole, which forms over the Antarctic in the Southern Hemisphere spring, has shrunk somewhat compared to last year’s all-time high, from 11.6 million square miles (three time the size of the U.S.) to about 10 million […]

The Yellow Haze of Texas

A plan to cut air pollution dramatically in Houston by 2007 was approved by the U.S. EPA yesterday. If successful, the plan will bring the city into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act for the first time. The plan lowers speed limits, mandates stricter vehicle exhaust testing, and calls for a 90 percent decrease […]

Holland Daze

An effort to make Dutch farms friendly to native plants and animals has failed, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature. Fields managed according to an environmental protection agreement were no richer in plant and bird species than those farmed conventionally. David Gibbons, of the U.K.’s Royal Society for the Protection […]

Amazon Painforest

Outrage is brewing among human rights organizations and environmental advocates over the murder of Brazilian environmental and labor leader Ademir Federicci. Federicci, one of seven environmental, labor, or religious leaders to be murdered in the Amazon Basin since July, was the director of the Movement for the Development of the Trans-Amazon and the Xingu. At […]

Our Hero, Teijiro

After months of ambivalence, the Japanese government is poised to seek ratification of the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa plans to meet later this month with other senior government officials to make arrangements for a vote on ratification, which will probably be introduced during a regular Diet session beginning […]