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The Smog Days of Summer

About 117 million Americans live in areas with smoggy air, according to a report released yesterday by the Clean Air Network, a coalition of environmental and public health groups. The report found that more than half of the nearly 600 counties in the U.S. that fully monitor air quality are above the legal limit for […]

The Dry Wall of China

Desertification is spreading across northern China, caused by rampant logging, overgrazing, and the cultivation of marginal lands for farming, and exacerbated by drought. About a dozen severe sandstorms hit Beijing this spring. The village of Longbaoshan outside Beijing is threatened by a mountain of sand that’s advancing at a rate of about 30 feet a […]

Goofus and Gallons

Rising gas prices are becoming a hot issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, as the cost of a gallon reaches as high as $2.39 in parts of the Midwest. George W. Bush and other Republicans blame the Clinton administration, saying the increases are being caused in part by clean air standards that require the sale […]

Don't Take Me to the River, Don't Drop Me in the Water

More than a dozen former members of an elite Israeli naval unit are filing suit against the government for endangering their health by requiring them to swim and dive in the horrendously polluted Kishon River, and occasionally even drink the river’s putrid water as punishment. More than 30 of the naval commandos have been struck […]

Sing Out Loud, Sing Out Long

Some male humpback whales lengthened their songs while others ceased to sing altogether when exposed to low-frequency sonar tests off the coast of Hawaii in 1998, suggesting that sonar transmissions by the U.S. Navy could disrupt whale breeding and cause other behavioral changes, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. On average, […]

Bordering on Insane

Dozens of illegal immigrants each night enter the New River in Mexicali, Mexico, and float north, hoping to elude U.S. Border Patrol agents who usually avoid the river for fear of pollution. Mexicali dumps 20 to 25 million gallons of raw sewage into the river daily, according to the California Water Resources Control Board, and […]

To Kjell With Nukes

Sweden’s environment minister called yesterday for nuclear and coal power to be phased out of the Baltic Sea region and announced that Sweden wants to be a world leader in developing sources of renewable energy. Kjell Larsson, who spoke at a meeting in Lithuania on the closure of the Chernobyl-style Ignalina nuclear power plant, gave […]

Uncle Salmon

The federal government yesterday released a new set of rules for the Pacific Northwest that prohibit harming threatened or endangered salmon and steelhead populations and the rivers and streams where they live. Still, the rules do not specify what activities are forbidden and do not require efforts to restore fish runs to their former healthy […]

Town and Out

Arnold, Calif., a longtime logging town, is turning against the industry that supported it for decades. A number of residents are opposing a plan by Sierra Pacific Industries to clear-cut a nearby area, fearing that it would damage the town’s burgeoning tourism industry, not to mention the area’s water supply “People come here for the […]

Organic Strawberry Fields Forever

Sales of organic foods in the U.K. are expected to be five times higher in 2000 than in 1996, compared to a doubling of U.S. organic food sales during the same period. Why the surge in Britain? Opposition to genetically modified ingredients, now common in nonorganic foods, has been widespread and strident in Britain, pushing […]