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Kernel Clink

The U.S. EPA put new restrictions Friday on the growing of genetically modified corn, responding belatedly to concerns that genetically modified crops may be causing ecological disruptions. Under the new rules, farmers who cultivate genetically engineered Bt corn, which produces its own insecticide, will be required to plant at least 20 percent of their acreage […]

I Know What You Did Last, Summers

Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said yesterday that a major lesson from last month’s failed World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle is that any new trade discussions must address the issues of environmental regulation, worker rights, and child labor. Summers made his remarks to corporate executives in Bombay, the business capital of India, an audience that […]

Beached Wail

Venezuela has banned fishing and swimming along hundreds of miles of Caribbean coastline after finding dangerous levels of sewage pollution caused by massive flooding last month. Powerful floods and mudslides that hit the nation’s northern coast in mid-December killed up to 50,000 people and destroyed many sewage pipes and water treatment plants. The ban affects […]

Jaws Dropping

A coalition of enviro groups has filed suit against the U.S. government to force protection of the endangered manatee, a marine mammal that spends much of the year in Florida’s warm coastal waters. The enviros say that U.S. and Florida officials have failed to enforce restrictions on boating, coastal development, and habitat destruction, thereby leading […]

Smog Tied

Record levels of air pollution in Milan, Italy, pushed officials Sunday to impose a one-day ban on cars and motorbikes in the city center, for the first time in 25 years. Meanwhile, Britain’s air quality took a dive in 1999, according to Friends of the Earth. Pollution levels exceeded health standards on average one day […]

99 and 44/100 Percent Bad

Elephant poaching is rampant in Africa despite a 10-year-old international ban on the ivory trade, Britain’s Environmental Investigation Agency announced on Sunday. Between April and December 1999, customs officers seized at least seven illegal shipments of ivory, including 1.8 tons at an airport and 221 pairs of tusks shipped to southern China. The Convention on […]

Another Reason for Lobster Die-Offs

Betsy Taylor, Center for a New American Dream

Betsy Taylor is executive director of the Center for a New American Dream in Takoma Park, Md. Sunday, 16 Jan 2000 TAKOMA PARK, Md. This morning felt like winter. It was wonderful to have a rush of frigid air in my face for a change after such a balmy December. Hoping for snow! After some […]

A Boy Named "Don't Sue"

It took a lawsuit to force Koch to clean up its act, but Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) wouldn’t be interested in that sort of litigation as president. “I do not believe we can sue our way to clean air and clean water,” Bush said yesterday at a Rotary club luncheon in New Hampshire. […]

My, What a Big Smile You Have

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that some 300 transplanted Canadian gray wolves can remain in the northern Rockies, a decision hailed by enviros as a boon for species recovery efforts. The ruling reversed a two-year-old decision by a federal judge who had found that the wolf reintroduction program in Yellowstone National Park and central […]