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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 […]

Temperatures in the 90s

Last year was the fifth hottest year ever recorded worldwide, and second hottest recorded in the U.S., despite a La Niña weather pattern that was supposed to cool off the Earth slightly, according to new figures from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Globally, the 1990s were the hottest decade ever recorded; each year of […]

Slick Move, EPA

If climate change isn’t reason enough for you to want to give the boot to fossil fuels, take this: Koch Industries, one of the largest U.S. pipeline operators, has been fined $35 million by the EPA for spilling 3 million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states, the largest civil fine ever […]

May We Take Your Order?

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) is drafting an executive order that would require the state government to conduct its business in an environmentally sustainable manner, another step forward in a state that passed the nation’s first bottle recycling bill and is known for its progressive land-use planning. The details of the executive order have yet […]