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The Importance of Being Ernesto
In an effort to protect the winter nesting grounds of monarch butterflies, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo expanded a forest reserve in central Mexico yesterday. Local residents and giant logging companies have been cutting down lots of trees in the area, and a recent study indicated that 44 percent of the monarchs’ winter habitat had been […]
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Dombeck Rules!
U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck officially instituted new rules yesterday requiring that ecosystem health be the No. 1 priority in managing national forests. The agency previously required its managers to weigh ecosystem health equally with other concerns such as logging and public access. The new rule prohibits cutting timber at unsustainable rates and eliminates […]
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Chair-ish the Thought
Much to the distress of environmentalists, Rep. Jim Hansen (R-Utah) is poised to become the next chair of the House Resources Committee, which deals with all bills related to wilderness, public lands, endangered species, and mineral resource extraction. The current chair, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), also widely disliked by enviros, will step down from the […]
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I Do Know Why, 'Cause There's Carbon in the Sky, Stormy Weather
Representatives of some 180 countries will gather in the Hague, Netherlands, next Monday to begin two weeks of talks to nail down the details of how to implement the Kyoto climate change treaty. French Environment Minister Dominique Voynet said this week that the European Union is united behind the idea that countries should meet most […]
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Surveillance Says …
Brazil launched a $435 million program yesterday to fight illegal logging, mining, and drug trafficking in the Amazon rainforest, which is home to about 50 percent of the world’s plant and animal species. The program will establish an air surveillance system and send police out across the region’s 1.9 million square miles. Last year, illegal […]
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Forest Grumps
Planting forests may worsen climate change rather than mitigate it, according to two new studies by British researchers published in the journal Nature. One of the studies suggests that as temperatures rise, forests are likely to emit more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air, adding to the greenhouse gases that are warming the atmosphere. A […]
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Protecting Their Privates
Oregon environmentalists are lamenting the passage on Tuesday of a ballot measure that will amend the Oregon constitution to require state and local governments to pay private property owners when land-use or other regulations reduce the value of their property. Opponents argue that the property-rights, or “takings,” measure will hamper the state’s widely touted efforts […]
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It's Sprawl Downhill From Here
Much to the disappointment of environmentalists, high-profile anti-sprawl ballot measures in Colorado and Arizona were defeated in yesterday’s election. A proposed amendment to the Colorado constitution that would have put dramatic constraints on development, requiring cities and counties to develop growth plans and let the public vote on them, was rejected by a margin of […]
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London Birds Are Falling Down
Urbanization and climate change may be partly to blame for a serious decline in Britain of house sparrows, formerly the most common bird in the country. Max Nicholson, a 96-year-old bird watcher who has been conducting informal bird censuses for 75 years, said that this year he counted only eight sparrows in London’s Kensington Gardens, […]
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Waiting for Uh-oh
Enviros are biting their nails along with the rest of America, waiting to hear the outcome of the presidential race between Al Gore and George W. Bush. It is known that Green Party candidate Ralph Nader fell short of the 5 percent of votes that would have earned the party federal matching funds in the […]
