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Party On, Ralph

Ralph Nader plans to mount an aggressive campaign for president as a Green Party candidate, spreading the party’s message of environmental protection, an end to corporate welfare, and health care and social justice for all, he said yesterday at a rally of the California Green Party. In contrast to his half-hearted run four years ago, […]

You've Got to Fight For the Right Whales

Alarmed at the increasing number of Northern right whales being injured or killed by fishing gear, one of New England’s top environmental groups announced plans yesterday to sue the federal government for failing to protect the species. Only some 300 right whales remain, and many of them are in Cape Cod Bay this time of […]

That's Just Fen With Us

Environmentalists are cheering new federal rules limiting development on wetlands, which were announced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday. The regulations, aimed at slowing the steady disappearance of the ecologically sensitive areas, would make it much harder to build homes, roads, or anything else near small streams or creeks. In most cases, the […]

Holy Sheet!

The melting of ice sheets and glaciers around the world accelerated during the 1990s, the warmest decade on record, and the melting is now happening at the fastest rate since record-keeping began, according to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute. Many scientists believe the increased melting is one of the first observable signs of […]

Go Tell It on Green Mountain

A rich Texas businessman who is one of George W. Bush’s biggest campaign contributors admitted on Friday that he had paid $2.5 million to run TV ads that accuse John McCain of voting against renewable energy while praising Bush for his environmental record. Sam Wyly said he wanted to draw attention to environmental issues in […]

Action Figures

In the wake of the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle last year, environmentalists are strengthening alliances with other progressive movements and helping to plan a series of demonstrations to keep the momentum going. Big protests are planned for April 16 in Washington, D.C., where the World Bank and International Monetary Fund will be holding […]

USDA Eats Its Words

In a move being hailed by enviros, the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week will announce tough new proposed standards for organic foods. The department had released a previous set of standards in 1997, but went back to the drawing board after receiving more than 275,000 negative public comments about the rules, which would have […]

Sunshine on My Solar Cell Makes Me Happy

Native American Photovoltaics, a new nonprofit, aims to bring solar power to homes on Indian reservations across the U.S. Last year, the group launched a program that offers families in the southwestern portion of the Navajo Reservation in Arizona the chance to lease-to-own a solar generator that can provide enough power to fuel lights, a […]

How Appealing!

In a big victory for the EPA and enviros, a federal appeals court on Friday confirmed the EPA’s authority to make states crack down on power-plant emissions that contribute to dirty air drifting from state to state. Many Northeastern states have long argued that they cannot meet federal air quality standards unless pollution originating in […]

I Spy a Great Big Rainforest

The Brazilian government is launching a five-year high-tech project that will use satellites, surveillance aircraft, and radar systems to keep tabs on activities in the Amazon rainforest, which stretches across some 3.1 million square miles of the country. Officials estimate that 5 million acres of Amazon forest are illegally logged each year, and unlicensed gold […]