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See Spot Live
The World Bank, Conservation International, and the Global Environment Facility joined together yesterday to unveil a new $150 million fund aimed at preserving biodiversity by protecting “hot spots,” or threatened areas with heavy concentrations of plant and animal species. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, as the project has been dubbed, will help create new national […]
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The Cutting Edge
A key committee in the California state Senate voted yesterday to ban clear-cutting in the state on public and private land, a move that would be unprecedented in the U.S. The ban would be lifted only if the state legislature voted to do so, after reviewing an independent study on the environmental and economic effects […]
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How Does This Sound?
Loggers in the Clayoquot Sound region of British Columbia chopped down a few old-growth trees yesterday to the sound of cheers from Canadian environmentalists. After a bitter, 17-year battle over logging in the region’s forests, enviros are backing a new company called Iisaak Forest Resources, which will practice small-scale, selective, sustainable logging, removing the downed […]
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Not Just a Fluke
Whale watching has become a booming $1 billion-a-year industry, bringing a new, generally eco-friendly form of income to many cash-strapped areas around the world, according to a report released yesterday by the Massachusetts-based International Fund for Animal Welfare. By 1998, whale watching was going on in about 500 communities in at least 87 countries, up […]
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My Sediments Exactly
After years of scientific and legal wrangling, the U.S. EPA began an experiment yesterday off the Palos Verdes Peninsula in California to test whether DDT-contaminated sediments on the ocean floor can be sealed with a layer of mud to protect marine life and people from the pesticide. If it deems the pilot project on 135 […]
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Owling in the Wilderness
Ten environmental groups in the Northwest filed suit this month against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming that the agency has not done its duty to protect the northern spotted owl, which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit contends that the USFWS has allowed logging in critical owl habitat […]
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Oh, My Aching Corns
A new scientific study confirms a previous finding that pollen from genetically modified (GM) corn can kill monarch butterfly caterpillars, reigniting a heated debate over whether GM crops should be more strictly regulated. Researchers from Iowa State University found that more than half of monarch caterpillars studied died after being exposed for 48 hours to […]
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Let's Whale on 'Em
Ambassadors and representatives of 15 nations joined together yesterday at the Japanese Foreign Ministry to protest Japan’s whale hunting, which the country claims is done for scientific research. President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, among other heads of state, have sent letters of protest to the Japanese government over the issue, and the […]
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An Uphill Climate
Sixteen environmental groups are banding together today in Switzerland to unveil a new Climate Voice website that lets visitors send messages to the world’s political leaders calling for action to address climate change. The groups — which include the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace International, and Friends of the Earth — aim to generate 10 million […]
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We Thought They'd Never Notice
New York Gov. George Pataki (R) yesterday signed into law the nation’s most stringent bill on notification of pesticide spraying. The law requires schools and day care facilities to give 48 hours notice to parents and staff before pesticides are applied on school grounds. It also gives county governments the option of requiring commercial pesticide […]
