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A Clean Sweep
Coastal cities in Southern California are latching on to a new, relatively cheap way to combat pollution running off their streets into the ocean — the little-heralded street sweeper. Street sweepers of 20 years ago did little more than collect litter and big dirt particles. Sweepers are now equipped to vacuum up pesticides, fertilizers, animal […]
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Oh No! Cardoso
A collection of rural lawmakers in Brazil is pushing legislation that would double the amount of Amazon jungle that could be deforested. The government’s current forestry code requires landowners in the Amazon to preserve 80 percent of their land. The new bill, which still must pass both chambers of the country’s Congress, would change the […]
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Lori Litman Ehrlich, HealthLink
Lori Litman Ehrlich is a mother, volunteer, and leader of HealthLink, a citizen group working to protect public health and promote cleaner energy sources. Monday, 24 Sep 2001 MARBLEHEAD, Mass. There is nothing quite like a memorial service to provide perspective and bolster environmental motivation. HealthLink, a local phenomenon here on the north shore of […]
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Of Fuel Rods and Lightning Rods
Even before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, government inspectors had found security to be inadequate at the U.S.’s 103 nuclear plants. From 1991 to 2000, nearly half of the 68 plants tested showed “a potential vulnerability” to terrorists. Now, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reversed claims it made right […]
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It's a Jungle Out There
Re: Un-Happy Meal Dear Editor: Eric Schlosser deserves a medal for this book, which everyone, especially fast food addicts, should read. I read the book, but must admit that I skipped the chapters on the slaughterhouse industry. I feared that things at the stockyards hadn’t changed very much since Upton Sinclair published The Jungle […]
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You Can't Be Too Car-ful
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is worried that it might have overestimated the amount of fuel savings possible if automakers were to redesign their vehicles. The academy is holding a public hearing in early October to consider changing a report issued this summer that found that fuel economy of some vehicles could be boosted […]
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Let's Beat Frank About This
Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Wednesday denied rumors that he was trying to attach a rider to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge onto a fast-moving national defense bill. Speaking on the Senate floor, Murkowski said, "That is certainly not the case. It would be inappropriate and in poor taste." Only hours later, however, […]
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Hip, Hip, EPA!
In its largest enforcement action ever in a pesticides case, the U.S. EPA is seeking $3.7 million in penalties from a Memphis, Tenn.-based pesticide manufacturer for using chemicals from unapproved foreign manufacturers. The agency says that the Micro Flo Company imported thousands of drums of insecticide ingredients from 1996 to 1999 under the pretense that […]
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Better Schemes for Better Living
The U.K. government is the first out of the gate with a scheme to allow trading in greenhouse gas emissions within its borders — and U.S. chemical company DuPont and Japanese trading house Marubeni have made the first swap under the system. Dupont, which operates plants in the U.K., has sold to Marubeni the rights […]
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The Bee's Knees
Roxanne Quimby, owner of Burt’s Bees natural products, is buying up land in Maine in the hopes of laying the foundation for a new national park in the state. So far, she has bought 8,000 acres at a cost of $3 million, with the purchase of another 5,700 acres pending, and she has contributed millions […]
