Uncategorized

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 […]

Scorn Flakes

StarLink corn, a genetically modified variety that has been grown in the U.S. but not approved for human consumption, has made its way into foods in Japan, threatening to set off bitter protests in a nation where opposition to genetically modified crops runs strong. In the U.S., contamination of the human food stream by StarLink, […]

Getting a Little Nukie on the Side

Greenpeace said yesterday that it had collected enough signatures to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to call a referendum on what it says are his government’s plans to change Russia’s environmental laws and allow the country to import, store, and dispose of nuclear waste from foreign nations. Greenpeace said the change would make the country […]

Swing Dance

In the homestretch of the presidential campaign, a number of prominent environmentalists and other lefties are campaigning loudly on behalf of Al Gore, calling on progressive voters in swing states to resist the urge to vote for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. The campaigners, who include Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope and longtime Oregon […]

Painting Ourselves Into a Warmer

White paint and green trees can help reduce heat and pollution in urban areas, according to a study by NASA and the U.S. EPA. An abundance of dark pavement and black roofs, which soak up sunlight rather than reflect it, can make some cities 2 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding areas and aggravate […]

Jumble Shrimp

Reigniting a dispute over environmental protection and the World Trade Organization, Malaysia yesterday accused the U.S. of failing to overhaul its laws to permit unrestricted shrimp imports. In 1998, a WTO panel struck down a U.S. ban on the import of shrimp from countries that couldn’t prove that their shrimping fleets were taking measures to […]