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Seeds of Change
Scientists have learned how to manipulate genes within a plant, a technique the biotechnology industry hopes environmentalists will like more than current genetic modification methods, which involve transplanting foreign genes into crops. The new method, made public today in two articles in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences, could let scientists tinker with […]
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A Grand Stand
Environmentalists are speculating that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will try to protect 650,000 acres on Arizona’s Shivwets Plateau north of the Grand Canyon during his last 18 months in office. If Arizona’s congressional delegation can’t agree on legislation to do the job, Babbitt is expected to push Pres. Clinton to designate the area as a […]
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Post-Mitch Hitch
In the wake of Hurricane Mitch, new interest is growing in Central America in environmentally sound land-management practices. Some farmers took note of the fact that communities with protected forest areas held up much better during the hurricane than communities where most trees had been felled. Still, development workers say it’s a tough challenge to […]
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NAFTA-Shock
The U.S.-Mexico border remains heavily polluted, despite claims that NAFTA’s environmental side accord would alleviate many problems in the area. Some progress has been made: the Tijuana River has been cleaned up noticeably, thanks to new sewage treatment plants, though much work still needs to be done. The North American Development Bank, an environmental fund […]
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Rain, Rain, Come and Stay
TreePeople, a Los Angeles nonprofit organization that has planted more than 1.5 million trees over the last 26 years, is now aiming to create a “sustainable watershed” in the city, dramatically reducing flooding, drought, and pollution. TreePeople founder Andy Lipkis has built a demonstration house in South Central L.A. that has a lowered lawn and […]
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Six Billion Served
World population may hit 6 billion today, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, meaning human numbers have doubled in less than 40 years. The United Nations predicts the 6 billion mark will be hit on October 12. Either way, humanity is increasing by 78 million people a year, despite a decelerating growth rate, and scientists […]
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Hot and Bothered
The warming of ocean waters seems to be an early warning sign that humans may be threatened by an epidemic, a team of earth scientists and infectious disease experts reported last week in the journal Science. The researchers found that higher temperatures in the Indian and Pacific Oceans increased rain in parts of Africa, and […]
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Don't Blow These Horns
The Javan rhinoceros of Vietnam, long thought to be extinct, was captured in a photograph that was released last week by the World Wildlife Fund. Once plentiful throughout Asia, many rhinos were killed off for their horns by poachers and their habitat was heavily damaged during the Vietnam War by defoliants such as Agent Orange. […]
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Wails for Whales
Some 800 gray whales, about 3 percent of the gray whale population, died this year during their annual migration from the lagoons of Baja California to feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. This is the largest number in the 24 years records have been kept. The 150 or so whales which washed up dead on […]
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Birds of Pray
Israelis and Palestinians are teaming up to preserve the lesser kestral, a threatened raptor which finds ideal nesting spots in the dark crannies of aging buildings in Jerusalem’s Old City. Today only about 400 pairs nest in Israel, down from about 2,000 in the 1970s. The birds find fewer old buildings each year and fewer […]
