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Unholy Union Carbide
Thousands marched through the city of Bhopal, India, today to mark the 15th anniversary of a poisonous gas leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant, which killed an estimated 6,000 people and injured perhaps hundreds of thousands more. The marchers protested insufficient compensation for injuries and demanded action against Union Carbide officials and Warren Anderson, […]
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Going to Greenpieces
For the second time in three years, the board of Greenpeace U.S.A. is resigning, unable to resolve serious rifts over policy. The organization suffered a major shake-up in 1997, when, in the face of declining membership and revenue, it ended its grassroots tradition of going door to door for members and donations, shrank its national […]
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Blow It Up and They Will Come
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, whose favorite pastime of late seems to be tearing down dams, got his first chance to employ explosives for the sake of fish this week. On Wednesday, he presided over the destruction of a dam on the Little River, near Goldboro, N.C., which opened up 49 miles of spawning habitat for […]
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Park and Chide
Many national parks and government-protected wilderness areas in developing nations are threatened or in bad condition, according to a new report conducted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Many of the parks are at risk from logging, hunting, mining, pollution, agriculture, human settlement, tourism, and war. The World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund, which […]
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Me Thinks Thou Dost Protest — But Not Too Much
Protestors against the World Trade Organization in Seattle continue to press their views that the trade body tramples on the environment, labor standards, and human rights, while police in full riot gear continue to trample on the rights of demonstrators and some bystanders. Pres. Clinton tried to mollify WTO opponents in two speeches yesterday by […]
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Hey, Caterpillars, Make Tracks
Even as the EU started giving ground on the issue of genetically modified foods at the WTO talks, a new study is showing that a widely used variety of GM corn leaves traces of toxin in the soil that can remain there indefinitely. The corn has been modified to produce a natural insecticide, the bacterium […]
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Dumbo and Dumber
Poachers in Zimbabwe have killed as many as 400 elephants in the past year, according to park officials and internal park documents. Gangs have used AK-47 automatic rifles to kill the animals, then axes or chain saws to hack off the elephants’ ivory tusks, leaving hundreds of carcasses in the remote Zambezi valley near the […]
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This Plastic Is Not Fantastic
EU governments yesterday unanimously approved an emergency ban on some baby toys made from PVC plastic containing chemicals called phthalates. Some scientists believe that phthalates, used to soften plastics, could leach out of toys that babies put in their mouths and pose serious health risks. The EU’s executive commission points to research that has linked […]
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My Way or No Highway
Pressed by a lawsuit from environmentalists, the EPA yesterday said that smog clean-up plans are inadequate in nine of the nation’s most polluted urban areas, including New York City and Houston. EPA Administrator Carol Browner said that although the nine areas in question have made some progress, state governments still need to take additional steps […]
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Soon, They'll Be Calling It the Greenhouse
Energy-efficiency measures and other steps taken to make the White House more eco-friendly have saved taxpayers nearly $1.4 million since 1993, according to an administration report to be released today. The savings, now totaling about $300,000 a year, have been achieved through more efficient lighting, heating, and air conditioning; new insulation; double-paned windows; and energy-saving […]
