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Enviros Say Power Company Buys Off Locals in Uganda
AES Corp. has struck a $500 million dollar deal with Uganda to build a dam near Bujagali Falls on the Nile River, but construction on the site is still on hold. The Virginia-based company said it didn’t expect to encounter so much opposition from locals, whose lives and customs revolve around the river. AES has […]
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Nuclear Plants Might Not Withstand Terrorist Attacks
Nuclear power plants are vulnerable to terrorists, and attacks on them could cause much more damage than Tuesday’s disasters, says Tom Clements, head of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington, D.C. He says the reactors’ containment systems were not built to withstand attacks from the air. But that’s not all. Clements says, “It’s quite apparent […]
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Dust, Asbestos From Trade Center Put Some at Risk
The enormous cloud of smoke and grit that spread from the collapsing World Trade Center towers on Tuesday could lead to attacks of asthma, emphysema, and other lung diseases, even a day or two after people were exposed, doctors said yesterday. Aside from the smoke, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said the biggest environmental […]
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Solar Helps Bridge Digital Divide in Developed World
Solar energy has become the energy of choice in some of the world’s rural markets, helping to bridge the digital divide in developing countries. Daniel Kammen of the University of California at Berkeley said 2 billion people across the world don’t have access to electricity and 1 billion of them could afford to pay for […]
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Coral Reefs Are Dying Faster Than Thought
The world’s coral reefs are dying faster and cover an area smaller than researchers previously thought, according to a study released yesterday by the U.N. Environment Programme. The UNEP report estimates that almost 60 percent of the reefs are under threat from human activities. For example, some Asian fishers use dynamite or cyanide to catch […]
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Acreage Protected By Local Land Trusts Increases Threefold
Local land trusts across the U.S. had protected almost 6.4 million acres by the end of 2000, according to the Land Trust Alliance. That’s more than a threefold increase since 1990. And for the first time, the group said, land trusts had conserved land in all 50 states. California had the most land under protection […]
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World Scientists Are Aghast at Canada's Species Bill
More than 1,300 of the world’s top biologists sent a scathing letter to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Monday, criticizing the country’s proposed endangered species legislation. They are upset that the bill would protect no species habitat on provincial land, but only on federal land — and then only at the federal cabinet’s discretion. […]
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Arsenic Study Supports Tougher Limits in H2O
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has found that the standard for arsenic levels in drinking water should be at least as tough as the one set by the Clinton administration and then suspended by the Bush administration. Former President Clinton ordered the level to be no higher than 10 parts per billion (ppb) by […]
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Dan Kent, Red Rock Forests
Dan Kent is the founder of Red Rock Forests. His work with Mexican spotted owls in the forests and canyons of southern Utah led to a growing awareness of the importance of Utah’s “mountain island” ranges to the surrounding desert watersheds and wildlife. Wednesday, 12 Sep 2001 MOAB, Utah This month begins Red Rock Forests’ […]
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Saving Private Xylem
California Gov. Gray Davis (D) is asking the state Board of Forestry to pass a rule tomorrow that would require private landowners to get state approval before cutting down ancient trees on their property. Landowners would have to go through a multiagency environmental review before receiving permission to log a single ancient tree. The proposal […]
