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About 600 companies operating in 32 different countries have enrolled in the Forest Stewardship Council’s certification system, which gives a label of approval to eco-friendly forest products. Called the FSC tag, the label indicates that wood comes from trees grown and harvested in an environmentally and socially responsible manner, under international guidelines. Many companies believe […]
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Up the River Without a Program
A group of conservative Republicans in Congress is trying to undermine President Clinton’s Heritage Rivers Program. Established in 1997, the program — which is jointly run by the Agriculture, Interior, Defense, and Housing and Urban Development departments — provides federal administrative help to designated river communities looking for funding or other support for environmental cleanup […]
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Battle Royale
Genetically modified (GM) foods are at the center of the latest tiff in Britain’s royal family. The views of Prince Charles, a devoted supporter of organic farming and ardent foe of GM foods, have been publicly criticized in recent days by both his father, Prince Philip, and his sister, Princess Anne. Last month, Prince Charles […]
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Ceci N'est Pas Une Good Idea
Despite vehement protests from enviros and human rights activists, the World Bank yesterday approved a $193 million loan for a 663-mile oil pipeline in Chad and Cameroon. Opponents of the project — which is expected to cost $3.7 billion total and is being spearheaded by ExxonMobil — say it would destroy sensitive rainforest, lead to […]
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That's Fin With Us
The U.S. House voted 350 to 1 yesterday to ban in U.S. waters the practice known as shark finning, in which sharks are caught, their fins are cut off, and the rest of their dead or dying bodies are thrown back in the ocean. Some 60,000 Pacific sharks are killed by this method each year […]
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Up With People
The U.S. EPA has decided to adopt a policy of ignoring experiments conducted on humans by pesticide companies when setting legal limits for the chemicals in food and water, officials said yesterday. The agency does not regulate scientific research by private companies, but it has usually relied on industry studies to establish limits for pesticides. […]
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A Lawn Time Coming
The environment committee of Canada’s House of Commons has proposed a nationwide ban on “cosmetic” pesticides used on residential lawns to make them look greener and to kill dandelions, reflecting growing concern about the health effects of lawn chemicals, especially on children. Health Minister Allan Rock plans to propose legislation this fall that would overhaul […]
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Amy Souers, American Rivers
Amy Souers is online editor for American Rivers in Washington, D.C. She is on a two-month cross-country road trip exploring America’s rivers. Monday, 5 Jun 2000 WERNERSVILLE, Penn. Today I left Washington, D.C., and my home river, the Potomac. Ask any paddler, angler, or other river person in this city and they’ll tell you that […]
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Green Danube
Four Eastern European nations — Bulgaria, Moldava, Romania, and Ukraine — signed an agreement yesterday to increase the protected land in the Danube River delta to more than 2.5 million acres. The Lower Danube Green Corridor, as the protected area will be called, contains wetlands, lakes, meadows, and flood plains. The nations will cooperate in […]
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Jumbo-sized Problems
India’s population of elephants is moving toward extinction because of widespread poaching, loss of habitat, and brutal training methods, according to Maneka Gandhi, the nation’s Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment and also head of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She said there are fewer than 800 adult male elephants left in […]
