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Home Depot is Where the Heart Is?
After several years of protests by environmentalists, Home Depot has agreed to phase out wood products from environmentally sensitive areas, including redwood, cedar, and lauan trees from old-growth forests. Home Depot, the largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. and the largest lumber retailer in the world, urged other companies to join the effort to […]
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Turtles in the Soup
Half of the world’s turtle species are in danger of extinction, according to scientists gathered at a conference in Nevada. The main cause of the crisis is human consumption of the critters, for both food and traditional medicine. The Chinese in particular seem to have an insatiable appetite for turtles, and scientists believe that several […]
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Changing the Channel
Stretches of California’s 1,100-mile coastline may soon be put completely off-limits to fishing, a dramatic step some policymakers are contemplating as a way to help decimated fish populations. A 37-acre reserve already exists in the Channel Islands National Park, but officials are considering a proposal that would dramatically expand the no-take zones in the park […]
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'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Fly
Development in a Southern California community east of Los Angeles is being stymied in order to protect an endangered species of fly. The Delhi Sands flower-loving fly — the sole fly on the Endangered Species List — is only known to breed in fine sand dunes about 60 miles from L.A., which are surrounded by […]
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Nary in a Coal Mine
Phasing out coal to clean up our air and slow the onset of climate change is possible on a global scale, according to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute. Coal’s share of world energy peaked at 62 percent in 1910 and is now at 23 percent, following a drop of 2.1 percent in 1998. […]
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Two Cats That Pass in the Night
Three environmental groups filed suit against the feds yesterday, claiming that the U.S. Border Patrol is harming two species of endangered wildcats with its use of high-intensity lights and other tactics to prevent illegal border crossings. The enviros oppose expansion of Operation Rio Grande, a containment effort that involves brush removal, road paving, fencing, and […]
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Free to Flee MTBE
A report by environmental officials from eight Northeastern states is calling for the gasoline additive MTBE to be phased out within three years because it pollutes waterways. Coupled with similar recommendations made by a federal commission last month, the report puts increased pressure on Congress and the EPA to curtail use of the additive. Still, […]
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Don't Bank On It
Deutsche Bank, Europe’s biggest bank, has advised several thousand large institutional investors to sell their shares in leading biotechnology companies, including Monsanto and Novartis, because consumers are hesitant to buy genetically modified products. Since the bank circulated a report with the advice on May 21, stock in the named companies has fallen and the frenzy […]
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Forest Service Stumped
The U.S. government on Tuesday temporarily blocked logging on 26 national forest areas in the Northwest until the tracts are surveyed for rare plants and animals, as required by the Northwest Forest Plan. A permanent injunction should be put in place by early October, though it would be lifted once wildlife surveys are conducted. The […]
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Drumming Out the Corps
Wetlands destruction and urban sprawl have exacerbated flooding problems in the upper Midwest, where floods caused massive damage in 1993 and 1997, according to a new report by the Sierra Club. The group blames the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for contributing to the problems by approving nearly all requests for permits to destroy wetlands […]
