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Patently Absurd

In a decision hailed by environmental and development groups, the European Patent Office yesterday revoked a patent granted six years ago for an anti-fungal product derived from the neem tree, which is widely grown in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and has been used for centuries to make medicines, insect repellants, cosmetics, and contraceptives. The scientists […]

Baa Baa Baa Bad to the Bone

Levels of radioactivity from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster are likely to remain high in parts of Northern Europe for 100 times longer than originally estimated, according to a report published in the journal Nature. Researchers from Britain and the Netherlands found that the environment is not cleansing itself as fast as expected, particularly in the […]

The Great Ice-Scape

Three gigantic icebergs broke off from the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica early this month and are now adrift, say scientists at the U.S. National Ice Center. The icebergs have a combined surface area slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut. An unusually high number of icebergs have calved from Antarctica’s Ronne and Ross ice […]

Black-and-Blue Panthers

A coalition of U.S. enviro groups sued three federal agencies yesterday for not adequately protecting the endangered Florida panther from sprawl. The panther appears to be making a comeback, but it is still one of the most endangered animals in the U.S., with a population estimated at 50 to 100. In other news of big […]

Koala-ty, Not Quantity

The U.S. irritated Australia this week by listing the koala bear as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Although wild koalas are found only in Australia, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes the listing will raise awareness of their plight as well as prohibit trade in koalas by anyone subject to U.S. laws. […]

One Little, Two Little, One Billion Little Indians

India’s population is expected to hit 1 billion tomorrow, making it the second country to pass that mark. China, which now has an estimated 1.3 billion citizens, was the first. Although India had the first official family-planning program in the developing world, the nation is still growing by 15 million people a year. Half of […]

Phnom-enally Bad

Uncontrolled logging is destroying Cambodia’s forests, fueled by greed, corruption, and incompetence, according to a report released yesterday by the Asian Development Bank. The bank recommended that the Cambodian government cancel a number of logging contracts, and the government seems open to the idea. Environmentalists have been warning for years that rampant logging and government […]

An Open and Shut-up Case

As more and more Americans flock to national forests for recreation, enviros are pushing the U.S. Forest Service to restrict or ban motorized vehicles on forest land. Off-road-vehicle users and their increasingly vocal lobbying groups are fighting back against such proposals. “This is the new land battle of the 2000s,” says Bob Jennings, a member […]

Wow, As Clean As New York City!

Facing severe air pollution that is threatening the health of both people and the economy, the Hong Kong government yesterday announced a broad plan aimed at cutting automobile emissions by at least a third within two years. The package of regulations will, among other things, impose higher taxes on dirty diesel fuel and give grants […]

(For Those About to Rock) We Cellucci You

Massachusetts’s six oldest and dirtiest power plants must halve their emissions and become as clean and efficient as new plants within three years, Gov. Paul Cellucci (R) announced yesterday. The federal Clean Air Act exempts plants built before 1977 from meeting current pollution limits, but Massachusetts will now become the first state to require its […]