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Monsanto uses child labor in its Indian cottonseed fields

Photo: iStockphoto Monsanto dominates the global seed industry and churns out $1 billion a year in profit. Investors are so enamored of its market power and profitability that they’ve bid up its share price by nearly 1500 percent since 2004. So why does Monsanto rely on farms that use child labor to cultivate its genetically […]

Has the east coast car-sharing company screwed up the west coast car-sharing company?

Late last year, the country’s two major car-sharing companies, west-coast Flexcar and its larger east-coast cousin Zipcar, merged and became, um, Zipcar. Flexcar fans were concerned about the effects of the merger. Sadly, Flexcar fangirl Erica Barnett reports that they were decidedly negative: more expensive, fewer cars, less friendly service, etc. Zipcar, what hath thou […]

ABEC ads in Ohio

Listen Play a creepy coal ad, by ABEC Speaking of fossil shenanigans, check out the blitz of advertising coal front group ABEC is running in Ohio in advance of the presidential primary there. I’ve been trying to pick the creepiest one, but’s pretty tough. I think the two winners are the audio ad to your […]

Greenpeace and others protest Heathrow Airport expansion

Greenpeace and other eco-activists have been protesting mightily against a planned third runway for London’s Heathrow Airport, which would demolish the nearby town of Sipson and, say activists, be completely counter to Britain’s ambitious carbon-cutting goals. The airport-expansion plan has brought significant opposition from both politicians and residents; the British government has yet to make […]

The EPA’s phony explanation of its rejection of California

After more than two months, the Bush administration today finally articulated its legal case for rejecting California's greenhouse-gas standards for motor vehicles. The argument is here.

It reads like something written up in the boardroom of General Motors or a law firm working for car companies. It even cites arguments made by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers as justification for the decision!

It's a phony argument designed to protect the auto industry -- and it's typical of the Bush administration to dump out bad news like this on a Friday to minimize media coverage.

Notable quotable

“Oh, yeah? That’s interesting. I hadn’t heard that.” — President George W. Bush, upon hearing that numerous analysts are predicting $4/gallon gasoline

‘Responsible Resources’ is the new ‘sound science’

Oh goodness, there are fossil shenanigans going on everywhere you look. You have to read this article in The Hill with talmudic attention to detail to figure out what’s going on with this new "educational" group — "Responsible Resources" — formed by ex-House staffers. Here’s a hint: In its ad, Responsible Resources says, however, that […]

EPA releases unconvincing justification for denying California waiver

For the long wait that preceded it, the U.S. EPA’s just-released justification for disallowing California to regulate vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions is rather anticlimactic. The 48-page document argues that California lacks the “compelling and extraordinary conditions” required for special regulatory permission, because the rest of the nation is also affected by climate change. Critics of the […]

When the world gives you an extra day, use it to celebrate amphibian conservation

Leaping long-toed salamanders, Batman! We need your help to save the nearly 2,000 amphibian species that are currently threatened with extinction. That’s one-third of all known species of frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians across the globe. And the status of the other two-thirds ain’t looking so hot either. Small wonder, too, what with an […]

Archer Daniels Midland will squeeze out competition, says Fortune

Record corn prices aren’t just squeezing consumers. They’re also hurting the ethanol industry — yes, the very folks whose ravenous appetite for corn drove up prices in the first place. From Fortune Magazine: Cargill announces it’s scrapping plans for a $200 million ethanol plant near Topeka, Kan. A judge approves the bankruptcy sale of an […]