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Talk About a Flood of Refugees
Bangladeshi Environment Minister Sajeeda Choudhury warned this weekend that if sea levels rise in line with climate change predictions, approximately 20 million Bangladeshis would become environmental refugees and industrialized nations would have an obligation to find room for them. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that up to 17.5 percent of Bangladesh’s landmass […]
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Poll Position
An overwhelming majority of Americans support Pres. Clinton’s proposal to protect 54 million acres of national forests from logging, road-building, and development, according to a poll commissioned by the Heritage Forests Campaign and conducted by American Viewpoint, a leading Republican polling firm. Some 76 percent of 1,000 registered voters surveyed said they were in favor […]
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Cut the Crap
Congress could save taxpayers $50 billion by cutting environmentally harmful projects and subsidies, according to a report released yesterday by the Green Scissors coalition, which includes enviro and government watchdog groups. Among other egregious expenditures of public money, the coalition pointed to subsidies for hard rock mining, fossil-fuel research, and the oil, timber, and sugar […]
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Wizards of Oslo
The Norwegian government announced yesterday that it is giving a 37 percent boost to funding for renewable energy projects, citing a large increase in the number of project proposals. Meanwhile, U.S. environmentalists wish their government had the same foresight. Arizona averages more than 300 sunny days a year, but people working in the solar industry […]
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Greens Against Genes
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and other enviro and public interest groups are trekking to Montreal, Canada, planning to raise their voices against genetic engineering as U.N. talks on the issue start Monday. Representatives of 134 nations will convene to discuss a proposed Biosafety Protocol, which is intended to establish rules for the international movement […]
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Slackers
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, following its usual pattern, recently missed two deadlines for deciding whether species should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, and enviros are taking the agency to task. In a move that could lead to a marked decline in logging in Northern California, the Environmental Protection Information Center filed […]
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Bradley Nets a New Endorsement
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) on Wednesday endorsed Bill Bradley for the Democratic presidential nomination, accusing Al Gore and the Clinton administration of having “taken a hike” on restoring Northwest salmon runs. Kitzhaber, the first governor to formally back Bradley, says the feds need to stop delaying their deliberations on whether four Snake River dams […]
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Huge Tracts of Land
A number of U.S. enviro groups are pushing plans to preserve and restore vast stretches of land in an effort to combat the “islandization” of wildlife habitat, or the fragmentation of natural land that makes it difficult for creatures to survive and ecosystems to properly function. The Wildlands Project, based in Tucson, Ariz., is at […]
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Gee, an Air Quality Website. Thanks a Lot, Britain.
Britain announced a new strategy yesterday to clean up its air, focusing on changes to the transportation sector such as encouraging the development of cleaner fuels and automotive technology. The government specifically talked up a new air quality website that will provide warnings for people with respiratory problems. Friends of the Earth criticized the government’s […]
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Searching for a Cod Peace
The fish wars heated up on the East Coast of the U.S. yesterday as the New England Fisheries Management Council angered the fishing community by voting to tighten fishing restrictions intended to rebuild cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine. The National Marine Fisheries Service will make the final decision in two weeks on the […]
