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Knock on Wood Trade
Vice Pres. Al Gore said on Friday that environmental and labor issues should be on the table at the World Trade Organization meeting of trade ministers to be held in Seattle, Wash., from November 30 to December 3. No matter what, enviros plan to make their voices heard during the meeting. Forest-protection activists have launched […]
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New York Nixes Conservation Funding
In the wake of last week’s blackouts in New York City, which were propelled by surging energy use during the East Coast heat wave, enviros are stepping up pressure on the state to increase its funding for energy conservation. Reducing demand for electricity would lessen stress on an aging power system and cut down on […]
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Oh, What a Crummy Feeling!
Toyota USA faces one of the largest vehicle recalls ever, which could involve repairing or replacing emissions-control computers on 2.2 million vehicles sold between 1995 and 1997 at a cost of up to $550 million. Federal officials are seeking a court order today to force the recall, after Toyota rejected a proposed settlement last Thursday. […]
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Brazil: Nuts! to Biopirates
Two Brazilian states recently passed laws requiring foreign researchers to sign contracts and pay “bioroyalties” on any income they gain from the use of local plants. A national version of the law, which would also require foreign researchers to have local partners, is close to passage in the Brazilian Congress. Brazil is one of a […]
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Mexico Is a Leading Light
A $23 million project that introduced energy-efficient lightbulbs to two Mexican cities has become the first to be verified as actually reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The pilot project took place under U.N. guidelines and Trygve Larsen of Det Norske Veritas, the Norway-based international verification foundation that certified the effort, said it can serve as a model […]
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How's the Air Up There?
Canada could significantly influence U.S. policy by pushing the U.S. to clean up air pollution that blows across its northern border, American enviros said yesterday at a conference held by Ontario’s Medical Association. Fifty percent of Ontario’s air pollution originates in the U.S., said Jason Grumet of the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management. […]
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China Dolls Up Its Industry
A $420 million grant to China will help the nation protect the ozone layer. Some $200 million of the money, which comes from a multinational fund set up in 1987 as part of the Montreal Protocol, will be used to help 200 firms upgrade their equipment and clean up ozone-depleting industrial products. China reduced its […]
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Writ from Ritt
The EU has threatened to withhold as much as $15.5 billion from a number of member states unless they comply with EU environmental laws by establishing nature reserves and other protected areas. France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Portugal have been given formal written warning from EU Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard. The crackdown follows a […]
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Oh No, Mr. (Interior) Bill
A rider tacked onto the Interior Department spending bill, courtesy of Sens. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho), would stall a large federal land and wildlife management plan for 64 million acres in the Pacific Northwest. The Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project — covering federal lands in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, Idaho, and […]
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An Aphrodisiac? Ah, Baloney
Police in South Africa are trying to crack down on heavily armed poachers of abalone, a shellfish prized in China, Taiwan, and Japan as an aphrodisiac. Some marine scientists warn that South Africa’s abalone population could be virtually wiped out within five years. Meanwhile, investigators in China have broken up a massive smuggling ring that […]
