Uncategorized
All Stories
-
Bend Over
Big Bend National Park in Texas frequently has the dirtiest air of any of the national parks in the Western U.S., says the National Park Service. On clear days, visibility at the remote park can reach 180 miles or more, but such days are becoming less and less common. Last year there were only 43 […]
-
Beating Their Breasts
There’s a small but growing movement among breast cancer activists to focus on the environmental factors thought to contribute to the disease. “Women who for years thought the answer was better diagnosis and treatment are now saying that the only way we’re gong to deal with this killer is to reduce our everyday exposure to […]
-
Woo Is Me
Speaking yesterday before a crowd of more than 30,000 in Madison, Wis., Al Gore stressed the importance of tackling global warming in one of the most spirited speeches he’s given all year. “If the big oil companies and the chemical manufacturers and the other big polluters were able to communicate a message to this state, […]
-
The Grim Reefer
More than 25 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed by global warming, pollution, and destructive fishing techniques, and most of the rest could be dead in 20 years if serious action isn’t taken to address these problems, according to scientists assembled in Indonesia this week at a major coral reef conference. Global […]
-
She Shoots, She Scores!
A majority of members of the U.S. Congress voted more often over the past two years to weaken environmental laws than to strengthen them, according to the League of Conservation Voters. This week the group released its 30th annual scorecard rating senators and representatives according to their votes on key environmental issues. Republicans in the […]
-
Moral Fixation
By 2100, the average world temperature could rise between 2.7 and nearly 11 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a new draft report by the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This estimate is markedly higher than the 1.8 to 6.3 degree rise predicted by the IPCC in 1995. The report also asserts that it is likely […]
-
Tunnel Vision
China is drawing up plans to use nuclear explosions, in violation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, to blast a 10-mile tunnel through the Himalayas in order to build the world’s largest hydroelectric plant. Work on the project, which is expected to produce more than twice as much power as the controversial Three Gorges Dam […]
-
And other words from readers
Your letters on Ralph Nader keep coming and coming. Here are a few of the latest missives. (And if you just can’t read enough on this juicy topic, check out our first, second, and third batches of Nader letters.) Dear Editor: There’s a point that appears to have been missed in the Nader/Gore/Bush “wasted […]
-
Brussels Sprouts
The prime minister of Belgium set a goal yesterday of increasing the number of organic farms in his country by 60 percent a year for the next four years, with the aim of having at least 4 percent of the country’s agricultural land farmed organically. The target is part of a comprehensive sustainable development plan […]
-
All in the Family
In a move that could boost efforts to limit population growth, Republicans in Congress agreed yesterday to lift a restriction that now bars international family planning groups that receive some U.S. funding from spending any of their own money to promote abortion rights or provide legal abortion services. Family-planning advocates have long argued that the […]
