Uncategorized

Delhi Order: Hold the Smog

India’s Supreme Court last week issued a landmark ruling requiring the government to crack down on auto pollution in New Delhi. New cars sold in the New Delhi area will have to meet European emission standards, and a strict limit on car sales will be put in place. Government officials say that more than half […]

Peking into a Cleaner Future

China will let as many as 14 large state-owned coal mines go bankrupt this year and 400,000 miners lose their jobs as part of a plan to reduce financial losses at coal mines and curb pollution caused by coal. China also has plans to shut down 25,800 small coal mines and reduce overall coal output […]

News Flash: Oil Industry Whines Again

Pres. Clinton proposed tough federal rules on Saturday to control pollution from cars and sport utility vehicles, ending an exemption that has allowed SUVs and light trucks to emit several times more smog-causing gases per mile than cars. The decision will force oil companies to slash sulfur content in fuel and automakers to design cleaner […]

Scheming Sleuths Steal Seed Sample

Private investigators employed by Monsanto trespassed on a Canadian farmer’s property to take samples of his crops in hopes of gathering evidence for a lawsuit against him, according to court documents and interviews with involved parties. Monsanto accuses the farmer, Percy Schmeiser, of illegally saving and replanting the company’s high-tech, genetically engineered seeds instead of […]

2 x CO2 = 3.5 Feet

Climate change may boost ocean levels by about 3.5 feet by 2550, according to Jerry Mahlman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mahlman’s computer model assumes that by 2050, carbon dioxide concentrations will be double what they were in the 1700s and then stabilize at that level because of conservation measures. Mahlman stresses that […]

Don't Worry, the Frogs Are Just Bored

An outbreak in recent years of deformities in frog legs may be caused by a simple parasite found in nature rather than by chemical pollution, according to two new studies published today in the journal Science. The new research, conducted on Pacific tree frogs in California, suggests that limb deformities are caused by a tiny […]

New Nukes Nuked

China has squelched plans to begin any new nuclear power projects in the next three years because the Asian economic crisis has cut into electricity demand, a Chinese nuclear industry official said yesterday. But the halt is expected to be temporary. “This does not mean bleak prospects for nuclear power development in China,” the official […]

A Grisly Bill for Grizzlies

Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho) is pushing forward with a bill that would restrict the federal government’s ability to close forest and logging roads, mandating more public participation in the process. The U.S. Forest Service has closed or plans to close hundreds of miles of road in an eastern Idaho national forest to protect grizzly bears, […]

Doggy Don't

Mexico City’s horrendous air pollution problem is being exacerbated by dog doo. More than 2 million dogs live in Mexico City’s inner Federal District and deposit at least 353 tons of waste a day, the vast majority of which is not scooped up by pet owners. The waste dries into dust that combines with particles […]

Greens Seeing Red over Redwoods

The war between environmentalists and the logging corporation that owned the treasured Headwaters grove of ancient redwoods in northern California has been one of the nastiest altercations in American environmental history, reports the Washington Post in a long feature story. A controversial deal was struck last month in which the government paid half a billion […]