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Damn Those Snakes!
Federal officials say they are likely to delay making a recommendation about the fate of four dams on the Snake River in southeastern Washington until after the November presidential election. Enviros are waging a national campaign in favor of breaching the dams to help restore salmon populations. The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Army […]
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This Stresses Me Out — I Need a Nice Cup of Herbal Tea
The growing popularity of herbal medicine, particularly in Western countries, is threatening the survival of a number of valuable wild plants, according to delegates to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, this week. Trade in at least 14 plants is already regulated because demand for herbal medicine is […]
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Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise
A House-Senate conference committee yesterday dropped from a major budget bill a controversial provision that could have opened the way for oil and gas drilling in part of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The measure, approved by the Senate last week, assumed that $1.2 billion would be raised from a lease sale of drilling rights […]
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Wind Without Sales
Construction is set to begin today on seven towering windmills that together will constitute the largest wind power project in the Eastern U.S. Most wind farms in the nation have been built by utilities, but this $16 million project planned for the rural town of Madison, N.Y., is being built on speculation, without a guaranteed […]
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Book 'Em
Vice President Al Gore, in a new foreword to his 1992 book Earth in the Balance, renews his call to eliminate all internal combustion engines and take dramatic steps to curb global warming. Gore’s best-selling book is being reissued next week to mark the 30th anniversary of the first Earth Day, and some Republicans are […]
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Spencer for Higher
Greenpeace is claiming moral victory after 13.5 percent of votes cast at BP Amoco’s annual shareholders meeting yesterday supported a Greenpeace-backed resolution that calls on the company to stop oil drilling in the Arctic and increase investment in solar energy. The motion was defeated, as expected, but the level of support it garnered surprised even […]
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Fire on the Mountain
Enviros are upset over what they fear may be an impending cave-in by the Clinton-Gore administration on the issue of mountaintop-removal mining in West Virginia. A federal judge ruled last year that the destructive practice, in which mining companies blast off the tops of mountains to get at coal and then bury nearby streams with […]
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Giving Pandas a Leg Up
Some captive male pandas in China will soon be given the anti-impotence drug Viagra to boost their sex drive in an attempt to save the species from extinction. Scientists have tried a number of other methods to lift the animals’ sagging libidos, including traditional Chinese medicine, but most efforts to breed the animals in captivity […]
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Biking the Hand That Feeds You
Pedal Express, a bicycle delivery company in Berkeley, Calif., has teamed up with a local nonprofit youth group to run a program that delivers fresh organic produce to Berkeley residents. Teenagers in Berkeley Youth Alternatives work part-time growing veggies on a half-acre community garden, earning money and school credit. Once a week, the produce is […]
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Toad Kill
Frogs, toads, and other amphibians throughout the world are disappearing at an alarming rate, according to the biggest statistical study of the topic ever completed, published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. Researchers found that the overall numbers of amphibians dropped 15 percent a year from 1960 to 1966, and continued to decline about […]
