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Mike Houck, Audubon Society of Portland
Mike Houck has been urban naturalist for the Audubon Society of Portland since 1982 and is a cofounder of the Coalition for a Livable Future. He also sits on numerous city and regional natural resource advisory committees, and is coeditor of Wild in the City. 3:30 a.m.: Woke up, wondering what was amiss. I had […]
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Hamster Dunce
Germany is not doing enough to protect native hamsters, says the European Commission. The commission has issued a formal warning to the country for allowing farming and development to occur in areas that are vital habitat for the endangered black-bellied hamster, a rodent that is both bigger and stronger than your everyday household hamster. Germany […]
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Kerry On!
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) threatened yesterday to filibuster to block any legislative effort by President Bush to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. He called Bush’s attempts in recent weeks to link oil exploration in the Arctic Refuge to the current energy supply shortage in California “muddled at best and […]
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Freedom to Chews
Shocking — but might this be a bit of good news? A U.S. Food and Drug Administration report has found that consumers want mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods and feel “outrage” when they learn just how many supermarket products already contain genetically engineered elements. Consumers are concerned that such foods may have negative environmental […]
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The Tragic School Bus
The air inside school buses can contain dangerous levels of cancer-causing soot, according to a study released this week by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Coalition for Clean Air, and scientists at the University of California at Berkeley. The levels of diesel exhaust on the buses were up to 8.5 times higher than the […]
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Lake a Virgin, Flooded for the Very First Time
Portugal will begin cutting down 1.3 million trees this month to make way for Europe’s largest human-made lake. The government says the 62,000-acre, 50-mile-long lake will provide water for arid fields, as well as hydropower and 20,000 jobs — some at golf courses built for tourists — for what is now a poor region of […]
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Talking 'Bout Power Generation
A coalition of unions, environmental groups, and consumer advocacy groups plans to unveil a plan tomorrow to tackle California’s energy crisis. The coalition members are concerned that labor and environmental protections might be rolled back. In their view, utilities and power generators are the big bad guys whose pursuit of wealth led to the current […]
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Credits Where Credits Are Due
In a report scheduled for release next month, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to endorse emissions trading and protecting forests and planting new ones as effective strategies to curb global warming. A final draft of the report says that the cost to industrialized countries for fighting global warming could be cut […]
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Drill Bitten
To open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling, President Bush will have to change the minds of seven Republican senators who are on the record as opposed to drilling. Last year, proponents of drilling won a symbolic 51-49 vote. In the fall election, however, anti-drilling forces gained seats, and […]
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River on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
The Spanish government approved a controversial plan last Friday to divert one of the country’s largest rivers in the north to the arid regions of southeastern Spain. Environmentalists say the plan to drain the Ebro River will violate European Union laws on water management and ruin the habitat of the Iberian lynx, which is on […]
