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Taking the Lawn Into Their Own Hands
The EPA is cracking down on pollution from lawnmowers, weed-trimmers, and chainsaws with new rules announced yesterday. It may seem like small potatoes, but 20 million small engine-powered devices are purchased by Americans each year, and together these devices are the second-largest contributor to smog after automobiles. The new EPA pollution rules, to be phased […]
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Card-Carrying Enviros
For the second year in a row, the Snake River in Washington state has been declared the most endangered river in the U.S. by American Rivers. The enviro group is pushing the Clinton administration to call this summer for the breaching of four dams on the Snake to help threatened salmon runs recover. The feds […]
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To Kjell in a Handbasket
Norway’s centrist Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned today after losing a vote in parliament yesterday, when the opposition majority ignored his objections and eased pollution laws in order to allow gas-fired power plants to be built in the country. Bondevik of the Christian Democrat Party says gas power plants will raise pollution levels in […]
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No Canyon Do
The Sierra Club filed suit on Wednesday to stop a big development project proposed for a gateway community south of Grand Canyon National Park. “Building Northern Arizona’s largest shopping center at the entrance to the Grand Canyon is simply a bad idea,” said Sharon Galbreath of the Sierra Club. The group contends that the U.S. […]
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That Really Extincts!
It takes about 10 million years for the living world to recover from large-scale extinctions and produce mature ecosystems, according to a study published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. “When we got that result, I was just stunned,” said study coauthor James Kirchner of the University of California at Berkeley. Many biologists say […]
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The British Are Coming Closer
The UK is aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 21.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2010, a reduction almost twice as large as the one the nation committed to under the Kyoto climate change treaty. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the goal yesterday as he unveiled a draft plan for complying with the […]
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Wow — A 350-Mile-Long Cesspool
China’s controversial Three Gorges Dam, now under construction, is plagued by corruption and is likely to lead to serious pollution problems, but officials say the project will be completed nonetheless. Enviros and human rights advocates vehemently oppose the dam on the Yangtze River, which will be the world’s largest hydroelectric project and will displace 1.3 […]
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Pretty Soon, Gas Will Cost As Much As Bottled Water
Complaining about the rising price of gasoline in the U.S., Alaska’s two Republican senators yesterday introduced a bill to open the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil production. The bill isn’t likely to go far because President Clinton has steadfastly opposed drilling in ANWR, which enviros say would seriously disturb wildlife populations. […]
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Please, Mrs. Paul, Stop the Madness!
Stocks of cod in the North Sea are in serious danger of collapsing because of the twin threats of overfishing and rising sea temperatures, according to a new study published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. Over-exploitation of cod stocks over the past four decades means that most of the fish caught in the […]
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The Not-So-Great Migration?
The migration of tens of thousands of Brazilians from the Amazon rainforest to cities has lessened one environmental crisis but created other serious problems. Now fewer farmers are tearing down swathes of forest to open up new agricultural land, but cities in the Amazon region have been overwhelmed by the influx of new people. A […]
