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Ghana With the Wind
Effective and affordable ways to curb climate change exist — what’s uncertain is whether governments have the political will to implement them. So says the latest study by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was released yesterday in Accra, Ghana. A key step will be to reduce the world’s reliance on oil and […]
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By Poplar Demand
Plants may prove to be the most cost-effective and safe tool to clean up toxic sites, scientists say. In a process dubbed “phytoremediation,” plants like sunflower, clover, and mustard have been shown to absorb and break down such harmful chemicals as arsenic, zinc, uranium, and lead. “A stand of poplars is a self-assembling, solar-powered, pump-and-treat […]
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Steward Little
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton made her first trip outside Washington, D.C., last weekend, promising an audience of 600 jubilant Republicans in Oregon that the dark days of the Clinton administration were over. She repeated what has become one of her favorite lines, “I respectfully disagree with those who say that to be good stewards […]
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Drain, Oh!
The delicate balance of the Pantanal wetlands in southwestern Brazil may be forever altered by a massive project to straighten and dredge the area’s rivers. Powerful commercial interests in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina want to proceed with the Hidrovia project to improve barge navigation through the Paraguay River and other waterways in the region. […]
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Not-so-green Acres
The U.S. government is running short on funds to promote conservation on privately owned farmlands. Last year, the U.S. Agriculture Department had to turn away almost 80 percent of applicants to one program — more than 59,000 farmers — because money to pay them was not available. The program helps farmers convert to environmentally friendly […]
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Soon — Put a Tigerlily in Your Tank
Soybeans and corn may become hot new fuel sources if high fuel prices and low crop prices continue. Bio-fuels, such as corn-based ethanol and soybean oil, burn more cleanly than gasoline and could help stabilize the faltering U.S. farm economy. Ethanol has been in production as a fuel additive since the 1970s, but President Bush […]
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States Get the Drift
The U.S. Supreme Court today let stand federal rules intended to reduce the amount of smog drifting across state borders from smokestacks in the Midwest and South to the Northeast. In 1998, the U.S. EPA required 22 states and the District of Columbia to submit plans to cut nitrogen oxide pollution, placing a heavier burden […]
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Commitment Ceremony
After a weekend-long meeting in Trieste, Italy, environmental ministers from Russia and the world’s top seven industrialized countries pledged yesterday that they would continue to work together to fight global warming. In a formal declaration, the ministers wrote, “We commit ourselves … to strive to reach agreement on outstanding political issues and to ensure in […]
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Getting Left Behind
Ralph Nader is working with the Green Party to run as many as 80 candidates for Congress in 2002, twice the number that ran in 2000. He said the Green candidacies will help to move the Democratic Party to the left, though he acknowledges the tactic could prevent the Dems from winning control of the […]
