Uncategorized
All Stories
-
Whose Land Is It Anyway?
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton took steps yesterday that could lead to commercial development in some of the national monuments designated by former President Clinton. She sent letters to state and local officials to get their feedback on how the lands should be managed and whether the boundaries of the monuments should be adjusted. Norton […]
-
Cod Is Dead
Once upon a time, Atlantic cod ran so thick in the icy waters off the coast of Newfoundland that explorer John Cabot was able to catch the fish by hanging wicker baskets over the side of his ship. More than 400 years after Cabot first visited the remote northeastern corner of North America, Newfoundland’s waters […]
-
Kyo-toad
European and Japanese governments reacted angrily yesterday to the Bush administration’s decision to abandon the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Japan’s ambassador for global environmental affairs, Kazuo Asakai, said that “Japan will be dismayed and deeply disappointed” if the U.S. rejects the agreement. Today, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is expected to appeal to Bush on […]
-
Shell Game
More than 15,000 green sea turtles are slaughtered in Bali each year, even though they are considered endangered in most of the world and a law in Indonesia prohibits catching, possessing, or eating the animal. Environmentalists say more sea turtles are killed in Bali than any other place in the world. Eating turtle meat is […]
-
Shell Shock
A California condor reintroduced into the wild has laid an egg, suggesting that the great birds may be able to recover from the brink of extinction. The condor, the largest bird of prey in North America, numbered only 27 when wildlife officials began a captive breeding program in 1987. Despite successes in captive breeding, scientists […]
-
Bus-ted!
India’s Supreme Court this week stuck by its 1998 decision to force buses in Delhi to convert from diesel to natural gas, but extended the deadline for the switchover by six months, until the end of September. The court added a caveat, however: Bus operators can only take advantage of the extension if they can […]
-
Resign Yourself
U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck resigned yesterday, expressing concerns that the Bush administration was shifting the agency’s priorities back toward logging and away from conservation. Chris Wood, a former top aide, said Dombeck decided to resign after administration officials told him they wanted to move “in a different direction.” In his resignation letter, Dombeck […]
-
De Train, De Train
Activists eluded thousands of police last night and halted a train carrying nuclear waste in northern Germany by cementing themselves to the tracks. The incident was one of many protests against the transport of the waste, which originated from German nuclear reactors and was sent to a French reprocessing center in the 1990s. Officials from […]
-
While You're at It, Could You Repeal the Geneva Convention?
U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said yesterday that the Kyoto treaty on climate change was dead and that the European Union and Japan would have to take a new approach if they wanted to reach an agreement on the issue. She said, “No, we have no interest in implementing that treaty.” The White House […]
-
A Trading Block
Environmental and labor groups are gearing up for a new battle over trade next month in Buenos Aires and Quebec City, where countries are meeting to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The pact, which would create a 34-nation trading bloc in the Western Hemisphere, is a priority for the Bush administration. The […]
