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Cabinet Fever

Speculation is running rampant about whom George W. Bush or Al Gore might choose to fill Cabinet-level positions, and what the environmental ramifications would be. For the Interior secretary spot, it’s thought that Bush might go for Montana Gov. Marc Racicot (R) or Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), if Gorton loses his bid for reelection; Rep. […]

James Grimmelmann, Microsoft

James Grimmelmann is a resident of Seattle, Wash., a software design engineer with the Microsoft Corporation, and the madman behind The Laboratorium. Monday, 30 Oct 2000 SEATTLE, Wash. I’ve worked at Microsoft for a year and half total, and in that time I’ve received two spider Koosh balls (Kooshes with only 20 or so hairs, […]

King of the Roadless

Environmentalists are pushing hard to convince the Clinton administration to expand its proposed plan to prohibit road-building on millions of acres of national forest land. The first version of the plan, unveiled in May, would ban roads on 43 million acres of roadless lands, primarily in Western states; the next version, which will take into […]

Possible Merger: World Wildlife Wrestling Federation

The World Wildlife Fund, one of the world’s best-known conservation organizations, has filed suit in London against the World Wrestling Federation over the use of the WWF initials. The two groups had reached an agreement on the issue in 1994, but now the conflict has rekindled over Internet addresses. The World Wildlife Fund, which uses […]

People in Solar-Paneled Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones

Last week on the stump, George W. Bush mocked Al Gore’s proposal to give tax credits to homeowners who install solar panels to generate electricity. “How many of you own a rooftop photovoltaic system?” Bush crowed at campaign rallies. But it turns out that Bush’s own energy plan includes what amounts to the very same […]

Atom-antly Opposed

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian stopped construction of a controversial nuclear plant on Friday. Prime Minister Chang Chun-hsiung, who announced the decision, said that the plant, which would have been the nation’s fourth, was unnecessary and would have created serious environmental and safety risks. The decision, though not a surprise, angered the Nationalist Party, which was […]

Cooked Islands

Rising sea levels and sea temperatures caused by climate change could wreak havoc on the economies of small South Pacific nations, costing $3 billion to $3.9 billion over the next 20 years, according to a report conducted by scientists and economists for Greenpeace. The report said that rising sea levels combined with the loss of […]

Stealing the Spotlight

Framing: the Debate

A judge in Mexico is expected to issue a ruling within days on the appeal of two environmental activists who have been convicted of illegally possessing drugs and guns even though the country’s National Human Rights Commission has found that they were framed. The two activists, Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, say they were arrested […]

Rudolf, the Sunburned Reindeer

Within 20 years, a new ozone hole could develop over the North Pole, similar to the one that has been expanding dramatically in recent years over the South Pole, according to one of the three British scientists who discovered the damaged ozone layer over the Antarctic in 1985. A hole over the Arctic could affect […]