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Fit to Be Thai-ed

Environmentalists and other concerned citizens in Thailand are waging a fierce fight against a proposed coal-fired power plant along the shore of the Gulf of Thailand, a project that they say could harm a coral reef and the fishing grounds that provide livelihoods for many of the 10,000 locals. They also worry that the plant’s […]

Yelling Fire in a Crowded Political Theater

Texas Gov. George W. Bush, campaigning in the Northwest over the weekend, defended himself against accusations that his state is an environmental mess. He claimed that Texas’s air and water have become cleaner since he took office and that his administration has overseen the cleanup of more than 400 contaminated industrial sites. Bush said the […]

A Silent Spring in His Step

Al Gore called for a renewed commitment to environmental protection during a Saturday campaign stop at the Pennsylvania birthplace of environmental pioneer Rachel Carson. He spoke of how her groundbreaking book “Silent Spring” influenced his own evolution as an environmentalist, and noted that he has been attacked by polluting special interests for writing “Earth in […]

Ban Rolls Off

Content that new federal limits on catching swordfish will buoy the fish’s population, two environmental groups are ending their two-year campaign to convince restaurants not to serve swordfish. The National Marine Fisheries Service last week announced plans to close more than 100,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean to pelagic longline […]

Goody, Two Shoes!

Nike says it is incorporating the environment into its decision-making, and even Greenpeace cautiously agrees that the company seems to be moving in the right direction. Nike says that by 2001, nine of 10 shoes it manufactures will be made without toxic glues, cleaners, or solvents. The company has also pledged to find an alternative […]

Take a Walkerton on the Wild Side

Pressured by public anger over the deaths of six people in May from an E. coli outbreak in the water system of Walkerton, Ontario, the provincial government promised yesterday to spend $162 million to upgrade water systems and sewage treatment plants. Officials also announced new regulations to monitor and control the quality of drinking water. […]

Aussie-some

Enviros and other activists are making plans to disrupt a September meeting of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne, Australia, in the spirit of the Seattle protests last year against the World Trade Organization. Green groups, including Friends of the Earth, are joining with labor activists and others concerned about the negative impacts of global […]

Drain, Drain, Go Away

Saying the move would protect tens of thousands of acres of wetlands a year, the Clinton administration yesterday proposed closing a loophole that allows wetlands to be developed. The Clean Water Act restricts developers from filling wetlands to create stable land on which to build and farm, but does not specifically prevent developers from draining […]

Fueling Groovy

General Motors and ExxonMobil announced yesterday what they called a breakthrough in fuel-cell technology for automobiles. The companies have developed a new system that converts gasoline into hydrogen that is used to run a fuel cell, which in turn produces electricity to power a car or truck. According to the companies, the system is twice […]

Generation XL

The world population, which surpassed 6 billion last year, is expected to hit 8.9 billion by 2050, according to median estimates from the U.N. Population Fund. Average fertility worldwide has fallen dramatically in recent decades, from five children per woman in the 1960s to 2.7 today, and the fertility in 61 countries, representing 44 percent […]