Uncategorized

Insane in the Ukraine

G-8 Is Enough

All eyes are on the U.S. as environmental ministers from the Group of Eight, the major industrialized countries plus Russia, begin a weekend meeting today in Trieste, Italy, to discuss global warming. U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman indicated today that the Bush administration was rethinking the country’s stance on the issue and did not […]

A Starlink Is Corn

U.S. Agriculture Department officials ordered seed dealers yesterday to determine how much of the U.S. corn seed supply contains Starlink, the genetically engineered corn variety that led to huge recalls of food and corn crops last year. Starlink, which is produced by Aventis for animal feed, has not been approved for human consumption. The agriculture […]

Pretty Belize With Sugar on Top

Environmentalists are mounting an international campaign against the proposed Chalillo dam on the Macal River in Belize, fearful that critical jungle habitat for tapirs, jaguars, and scarlet macaws could be lost. The dam project, which has the support of the Belize government, was first proposed in the early 1990s to wean the country from its […]

Share and Share Dislike

Environmental and human rights groups are accusing the oil giant BP of playing dirty and preparing to squash debate on shareholder resolutions at its annual meeting next month. With the backing of hundreds of shareholders with millions of shares, Greenpeace and the Free Tibet Campaign want the meeting to addresses four issues: climate change, oil […]

Pew, Those Oceans Smell

Pollution from inland sources of fertilizer and manure is threatening bays and estuaries in the U.S., according to a report released this week by the Pew Oceans Commission. The study stated that nitrogen and ammonia from these sources are producing toxic algae blooms, depleting oxygen levels, and destroying sea grasses and coral reefs. Leon Panetta, […]

Shock Diesel

The Bush administration announced yesterday that it would let stand regulations put forward by former President Clinton to cut diesel exhaust from big trucks and buses by 95 percent. The new rules will require oil refiners to reduce the sulfur content of highway diesel fuel by 97 percent and force manufacturers to install pollution control […]

Phenomenal

In one of the Bush administration’s first official statements on global warming, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said this week that the administration may push to place limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. “There is no question,” she said, “that global warming is a real phenomenon, that it is occurring.” She said […]

30 Minutes, or It's Free Trade

In an attempt to grease the wheels in the trade battle over softwood lumber, the Canadian embassy last week sent Domino’s pizzas to 170 members of the U.S. Congress, focusing in particular on members who have environmental concerns. The Canadians were careful to deliver “politically correct” pizzas: meatless and packaged in boxes made from recycled […]

Appalled By Sprawl

Three key Bush administration officials promised governors yesterday that they would work to discourage urban sprawl, renew urban communities, and invest in public transportation. Speaking at the National Governors Association, the heads of the U.S. EPA, Housing and Urban Development Department, and Transportation Department said that President Bush’s budget, to be unveiled tonight, will include […]