Uncategorized

Business as Unusual

Student environmental activists are turning their attention anew to corporations, trying to cajole or shame them into changing their practices for the benefit of the planet. Last month, Yale student Glenn Hurowitz staged a demonstration at BP Amoco’s New York offices and delivered a stack of resumes from business and engineering students who had pledged […]

We Doesn't Get It

Pollution and other environmental factors may be threatening the intelligence of millions of people around the world, according to a new research review conducted by Chris Williams of London University. Environmental problems that can lead to lower IQs include lead, PCBs, and radiation. Epidemiologists have detected an increase in the number of children born with […]

It's All the Brady Bunch's Fault

In a move that is rattling the tourist industry in Hawaii and beyond, the Sierra Club filed suit in January against the Hawaii Tourist Authority, seeking to force the state agency to perform a statewide environmental assessment before launching an aggressive marketing plan aimed at luring more visitors to the islands. “Seven million tourists descend […]

Set Phaseout on Stunning

Vice President Al Gore, speaking at the Earth Day fair in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, unveiled policy initiatives aimed at curbing emissions of greenhouse gases, including proposed tougher requirements for power plant emissions. Gore also reiterated his controversial claim that it is possible and necessary to phase out the internal combustion engine within the next […]

Everyone Talks About the Weather, but We Did Something About it

The new century has already seen a number of volatile weather events of the type scientists predict would accompany global warming. Tornado-like winds and torrential rain hit parts of Southern California this week. Devastating floods caused a major humanitarian disaster in Mozambique in February and March. Forest fires are starting up earlier than usual in […]

Planet Envy

For He's a Jolly Good Felon

Federal prosecutors are now charging about three times as many people for environmental crimes as they were 10 years ago, and the EPA is sending about four times as many criminal referrals to the Justice Department. And an increasing number of polluters are being punished with jail terms instead of just fines. Last summer, the […]

Wheeler Dealer

Just in time for Earth Day, Al Gore is trying to burnish his green image. Today he travels to Detroit on behalf of the administration to announce a new deal under which heavy-duty engine and truck companies will produce more fuel-efficient buses, trucks, and 18-wheelers. Monday he announced new proposed drinking water rules. Tomorrow, Gore […]

Adding Injury to Insult

Two environmental protestors have been injured this week while trying to interfere with the gray whale hunt that the Makah native tribe in Washington state started up a few days ago. Under a 1997 deal, the U.S. is allowing the Makahs to kill up to five gray whales a year. In a highly publicized and […]

Extra Credit

A World Bank emissions trading program that will finance clean energy projects in developing countries has generated more money and more government and corporate interest than expected, and the bank hopes to expand it. About $135 million has been pledged to the program by 15 corporations, including BP Amoco and six Japanese electric power companies, […]