Uncategorized

Kiwi Me a River

In a big loss for the Green Party in New Zealand, the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification has rejected the idea of a country free of genetically engineered crops and animals. The commission determined that biotech foods need not “threaten New Zealand’s ‘clean green’ image,” recommending that research on the foods “proceed with caution,” including […]

Fees: "Fie," Foes Fume

Organizers say more than 200 grassroots groups have sprung up across the U.S. to protest fees for using federal lands. In 1996, Congress launched a pilot program to allow certain national forests, refuges, and other federal lands to begin charging fees for access, parking, and campsites. Congress this year is deciding whether to extend and […]

See Ya Later …

With fewer than 130 of them left in the wild, Chinese alligators may become the first crocodilian to become extinct in the wild, according to a study that will be published soon in the journal Biological Conservation. The alligators, native to lakes and wetlands in the lower Yangtze River Valley, have lost most of their […]

Less, Says Moore

Only a tiny number of globalization foes will be allowed near the next World Trade Organization meeting this October in Doha, Qatar. WTO Director-General Mike Moore has told the 647 nongovernmental organizations requesting accreditation that they may send only one delegate each. Because Qatar can close its borders, additional protesters may be kept from the […]

Land of a Thousand Bottled Waters

Glow With the Flow

Artificial lakes containing 50 years of radioactive waste could leak into the rivers of the Ural Mountains within a few years, according to a letter sent by the governor of Russia’s Chelyabinsk region to Russia’s prime minister last month. The area near the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant is known as one of the most radioactive […]

Patricia Ross, city councilmember, Abbotsford, B.C.

Patricia Ross is a city councilmember in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and a fellow with Leadership for Environment and Development International, a training organization committed to sustainability. Monday, 20 Aug 2001 ABBOTSFORD, B.C. Monday around my place always starts off with a bang, but today is especially crazy. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since 8:00 a.m. […]

15 Is Enough

The U.N. Environment Programme says forest-protection efforts worldwide should focus on just 15 countries that contain more than 80 percent of the most-intact forests left. UNEP says 88 percent of the targeted forests face little pressure from human activities. The 15 countries are Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, […]

Going Halfway

A group of Canadian natives has been blockading a Petro-Canada well in northeastern British Columbia since Monday to protest against a proposed 13-mile natural gas pipeline through traditional hunting grounds. About 100 protesters, led by members of the Halfway River First Nation, say they will prevent workers and equipment from entering a drilling camp until […]

Landfill, Ho!

Babies born to mothers living near landfills are more likely to suffer minor birth defects, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. The 11-year study shows that pregnant women living near landfills in the U.K. had a 1 percent higher chance of having a baby with a congenital defect. That risk jumped […]