Latest Articles
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It Takes a Six-State Caucus to Raise a Child
Midwest states announce effort to protect children from eco-hazards Youngsters in six Midwestern states may soon be safer from environmental dangers ranging from pesticide use in schools to toxic fumes from school-bus tailpipes. Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin lawmakers in the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators have agreed to work together to create […]
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The Altima Sacrifice
Nissan CEO not happy about making new hybrid Altima Automaker Nissan is releasing its first hybrid model, a version of its Altima sedan, next year, but it doesn’t have to like it. In a speech at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said hybrids aren’t profitable enough to […]
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See Hotspot Run
Ecologists identify nine new biodiversity “hot spots” The world’s biodiversity, it seems, is in trouble. A new report compiled over four years by some 400 ecologists has identified nine new “hotspots” where animal and plant biodiversity is both high and imperiled. The 34 total hotspots identified since 2000 cover only 2.3 percent of the earth’s […]
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Are Too!
Judge says Bush admin wrong in claiming NW wolves aren’t endangered Yesterday, a federal judge rescinded the 2003 federal rule downgrading gray wolves in the Northwest U.S. from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act, saying the Bush administration’s decision was “not based on the present or future threats to the wolf or the […]
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Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”
Remember when bestselling author Michael Crichton jumped into the global warming debate with both feet, releasing a book called State of Fear that cast environmentalists as ruthless loonies and climate change as a case of mass hysteria, and everybody was buzzing about it, and every publication on the planet published reviews of the book, and Crichton did the rounds on talk shows playing the martyr, and American pop culture was all a-twitter?
Back in December?
Yeah, well, we're ready to weigh in now. (We just wanted to get the last word!)
My review of the book is up, and so is a scientific debunking of the book from Gavin Schmidt of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. (It's a much-revised version of a piece he published over on the might-as-well-put-"indispensable"-in-the-name Indispensable RealClimate.org.)
More reflections below the jump.
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Paying Flip Service
California puts John Muir on its official quarter California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and state first lady Maria Shriver yesterday introduced the new California quarter, bearing the likeness of venerable conservationist John Muir and the once-almost-extinct California condor he did so much to preserve. “Muir lit the torch of conservation in our state,” said the […]
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The Brick of Disaster
Autism may be linked to environmental factors, research says A new study looking into possible environmental causes of autism, a neurological disorder that affects communication and social-interaction abilities, demonstrates that a suite of pollutants working in combination can critically affect a developing embryo. The research focused on several chemicals found more than a decade ago […]
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Meet the Parents
“Natural family living” is a growing trend Parents of today’s youngest generation are increasingly choosing to raise their kids in more natural, even old-fashioned, ways, say supporters of a lifestyle called “natural family living.” This parenting approach involves trusting instincts over published experts and using more natural means to feed, medicate, and nurture children, which […]
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The Shallow End of the Secretarial Pool
Senate confirms Bodman to head Energy Department Sam Bodman’s nomination to serve as energy secretary sailed through the Senate yesterday, despite his having little to no experience working on energy issues. Now he can get to work pushing Bush’s big energy bill through Congress, fighting for the opening of the proposed nuclear-waste repository at Yucca […]
