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Into Thinner Air
The ozone hole over Antarctica is the biggest it’s ever been, 11 million square miles, or three times the size of the U.S., scientists at NASA said on Friday. Synthetic compounds in refrigerants, aerosol sprays, and foam-blowing agents cause depletion of the ozone layer. The amount of such chemicals in the atmosphere is leveling off, […]
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Underbrush With the Law
President Clinton on Saturday endorsed a report by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman calling for a big increase in the number of national forest acres to be swept clean of the thick, flammable underbrush that led to many of the wildfires in the West this summer. Clinton’s comments came during his […]
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Go Ahead and Jump
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday proposed designating 5.4 million acres as critical habitat for the threatened California red-legged frog, a move likely to affect development and agriculture in the state, particularly in Southern California. This designation, which would be the largest of its kind in the state and one of the largest […]
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Wild and Crazy Guy
U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck this weekend said his agency should be leading the effort to protect what’s left of wild spaces and that he would increase the number of people on his payroll working on wilderness issues. Speaking at a national wilderness conference in Denver, Dombeck said, “Five percent of our land area […]
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No Kenya Do
Community leaders in Kwale, Kenya, are deeply troubled by a Canadian mining company’s plans to turn thousands of acres of forest and farmland on Kenya’s eastern coast into a $150 million titanium strip mine. Opponents of the massive mining project charge that it is fraught with corruption and would devastate a fragile ecosystem, as well […]
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Thaw Shucks
Adding weight to arguments that global warming is upon us, a study appearing today in the journal Science concludes that 26 bodies of water in the Northern Hemisphere are freezing an average of 8.7 days later and thawing out 9.8 days earlier than they did 150 years ago. The study was a based on direct […]
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Piping Hot
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill yesterday to require tougher safety measures for oil and natural-gas pipelines, hoping to prevent spills and leaks that pollute the environment and sometimes prove deadly. The bill would increase inspections and fines for hazardous accidents and require pipeline operators to disclose more info to government regulators. Still, some […]
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We Kid You Not
Louisiana and Texas are the states that emit the most chemicals dangerous to children, according to a report released yesterday by activist groups. It found that about half of all toxic chemical emissions reported to the federal government are suspected to affect the way children’s bodies and brains develop, and drew attention to a finding […]
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Fishing for Votes
Commercial salmon fishing should be shut down in Washington state to save endangered salmon runs, says former radio talk show host John Carlson, the favorite to win the Republican primary for governor in the state. As governor, Carlson says he would ban nets used by almost all commercial and tribal fisheries. Carlson: “It makes no […]
