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And the Other 20 Percent Just Want More Hockey on T.V.
Some 80 percent of Canadians say environmental concerns such as air pollution are important considerations when they purchase a new automobile, according to a survey conducted for business consultants Ernst and Young. About half of those people say they would be willing to pay more for an eco-friendly vehicle, with 11 percent willing to shell […]
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Congratulations! It's a boy!
The world’s 6 billionth inhabitant, a boy in Sarajevo, was born today. U.N. demographers chose today as a symbolic marker of the population milestone. Some 78 million new people are born each year, and the equivalent of San Francisco’s population is born every three days. Although the population growth rate is slowing, human numbers have […]
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Something's Rockin' in Denmark
Denmark, the world’s wind-power powerhouse, has embarked on a 10-year government project to run an entire community, the island of Samso, solely on renewable energy. The country already gets 7 percent of its electricity from wind, and by 2030 that percentage should rise to 50, according to the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy. Denmark’s […]
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The Road to Hell is Paved by the Clinton Administration?
Pres. Clinton kowtowed to the Republican leadership on Saturday by signing into law a transportation funding bill that contained a provision extending for another year a freeze on developing or even studying new fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks. A White House spokesperson said that although the administration believed the provision was “ill-advised,” […]
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Tiger Balm
The tiger may be making a comeback, after many biologists predicted that it would be all but extinct by the year 2000. Conservationists warn against complacency and stress that the tiger is still endangered, but they are optimistic about rebounding populations in some areas, including eastern Siberia, Nepal, and parts of India. The good news […]
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WTO Calls Kettle Black
While enviros prepare to raise Cain during the World Trade Organization talks starting in Seattle on November 30, the WTO yesterday came out with a report saying that ending government subsidies to energy, fishing, and farming industries could give a big boost to environmental protection. In a set of recommendations for the WTO’s 134 member […]
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Courting Disaster
The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in a case that could whittle down the power of citizens to file lawsuits against polluters. In 1992, Friends of the Earth sued a South Carolina hazardous-waste-incineration company, Laidlaw Environmental Services, for dumping excessive amounts of mercury in a nearby river. The company stopped polluting after the suit […]
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Mark Ritchie, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Mark Ritchie is president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, based in Minneapolis, Minn., which works to keep family farmers on the land. He also serves as national co-chair of Sustainable America and director of the International Forum on Food and Agriculture, and is on the boards of Mothers and Others, Libraries for […]
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Forest Gumption
Ever eager to leave a green legacy, Pres. Clinton will announce an initiative next week to protect up to 40 million acres of national forest land in 35 states from commercial development. The directive will ask the U.S. Forest Service to analyze how best to protect forest land that is still undeveloped and roadless, much […]
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Forest Gunk
Europe’s forests are sick and getting sicker, according to a new report released yesterday by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the European Commission. The comprehensive analysis found that only 35 percent of the continent’s trees are “healthy,” about 40 percent are in a “warning stage,” and about 25 percent are “damaged,” meaning they […]
