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Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?
Two months after India became the second nation in the world with a population greater than 1 billion, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other government leaders will meet tomorrow to develop a strategy for slowing the nation’s population growth. Since the birth of India’s symbolic billionth baby on May 11, another 3.5 million […]
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Cod's Wallop
In one of the toughest judicial actions taken under the Endangered Species Act in the last decade, a federal judge yesterday banned trawl-net fishing for pollock, cod, and other bottom fish in large ocean areas off Alaska, citing a need to protect endangered Steller sea lions. The sea lions forage for the same fish chased […]
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Sticking It to 'em
Willamette Industries, Inc., a major U.S. plywood manufacturer, agreed yesterday to a $93.2 million settlement with the feds, the largest figure ever in a case involving air pollution from factories. The adhesives used to glue together sheets of plywood give off volatile organic compounds that contribute to smog, and EPA Administrator Carol Browner said the […]
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Eights and Pains
As leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized nations meet for three days in Okinawa, Japan, environmentalists are hoping to focus attention on green issues. Activists are calling on the nations — in particular, Canada, Japan, and the U.S. — to end logging subsidies that destroy forests and waste government money. A report released […]
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M'mm M'mm Good
A coalition of U.S. consumer and enviro groups kicked off a big campaign yesterday to pressure major food companies to abandon the use of genetically modified (GM) crops. Its first targets will be the Campbell Soup Co. and Kellogg’s. The activists hope to encourage tens of thousands of consumers to call directly on companies to […]
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Nick of Time
Singers Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley and actor James Garner yesterday donated the final cash needed to temporarily block logging in a stand of ancient redwoods in northern California known as the “hole in the Headwaters.” The Sierra Club and the Environmental Protection Information Center filed suit in March to stop Pacific Lumber Co. from […]
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Goodbye, Mr. Fish and Chips
Enviros are warning that Britain’s culinary claim to fame, fish and chips, could disappear unless the nation does a better job of managing its marine resources. The World Wildlife Fund says stocks of cod, the traditional accompaniment to fried potatoes, are being severely depleted because of overfishing, pollution, and rising ocean temperatures. The group is […]
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Oh, Goody — Organic Ragu!
Organic farming is undergoing a boom in Italy and other southern European countries. Thanks to rising demand and generous European Union subsidies for the conversion of farmland to organic growing, the land area in Italy devoted to organic farming has doubled in the past three years, and organic farming is quickly gaining ground in Spain […]
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Breach Out of Reach
The Clinton administration has decided it will not recommend that four dams on the lower Snake River in Washington be breached to help salmon recovery. George Frampton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is testifying before Congress today that the feds will watch how other efforts to protect salmon proceed over the […]
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I'm Chiquita Banana and I've Come to Say — Bananas Must Be Grown in a Certain Way
The banana business is going greener, with a number of major companies, including Chiquita, working to qualify for a new Eco-OK banana label developed by environmental groups under the banner of the Better Banana Project. To maintain certification, banana farms must show continual improvements in their environmental practices and treatment of workers. Ecuador’s second largest […]
