Latest Articles

Grousal Abuse

Sage grouse unlikely to receive protection under ESA A panel of biologists and managers at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended against listing the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. FWS Director Steve Williams will make a final decision by Dec. 29, but observers say he’s likely to follow the panel’s […]

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Poison Spray

Afghan poppy fields mysteriously sprayed with chemicals Recently, planes have been flying over the poppy fields of Afghan farmers, spraying them — along with houses, orchards, and perhaps even families — with toxic chemicals apparently intended to kill poppy crops and keep them from being converted to heroin. Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed shock at […]

States Hafta NAFTA

International trade treaties hamper states on environmental protection When the U.S. signed on to international trade treaties like NAFTA, enviros warned that it could hamper efforts to pass and enforce eco-friendly laws and regulations, and there’s mounting evidence to support those dark predictions. After a period of caution and reticence, U.S. trading partners are more […]

“De-urbanizing” Yosemite

Think everything is going to hell? Well, you're right. But still, the fact that Yosemite National Park is undergoing something of a renewal is happy news nonetheless.

California contains multitudes

California, home to the most stringent auto-emission restrictions in the U.S., is also home to the most SUVs in the U.S., with 2.8 million (Texas, by comparison, has 1.8 million). But wait, you're saying, California has no snow and most people live in cities...

"In Southern California, image is important," said Arthur St. Antoine, an editor-at-large with Motor Trend magazine. "I think the big allure is how the SUVs make you look. Any number of people would be better served by a minivan. They have more room and are more comfortable for five, but they don't have that rough-and-ready 'I just got off the Serengeti' image."

So people are willing to screw the planet to improve their image. Fine. But perhaps more depressing is this:

Thousand Oaks mom Sue Short, who bought a Chevy Tahoe after her third son was born, said the first time at the gas pump was a shock. "Oh my God," she said as the price to fill up rose. "Oh my God."

"Your first time filling up?" a fellow SUV driver nearby asked her. She's since gotten used to the price and loves her SUV.

Burning bright

Congrats to the tiger.  According to a survey of more than 50,000 folks by the cable TV channel Animal Planet, the tiger is the world's favorite animal, narrowly beating the dog. One wonders, of course, if it is the world's favorite why it is threatened with extinction in so many of its natural habitats...

Without further ado, the top ten:

Reindeer Power

Patricia Lovera, food safety crusader, answers questions

Patricia Lovera With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am deputy director of the Energy and Environment Program at Public Citizen. We have campaigns on energy (fighting nuclear power and electricity deregulation), against the privatization of our water supplies, and on food safety (fighting food irradiation and other methods of industrialized food production that […]

Friedman: pigs sure would look pretty with wings

I'm not sure if Tom Friedman is just a stubborn optimist or whether he has somehow, after years on the international beat, not been divested of a childish naiveté.

His latest editorial in the NYT deplores the fact that the Republicans just cut the National Science Foundation budget by 2 percent. He says what they ought to do instead is marshal the country behind a massive effort toward energy independence, like Kennedy's call to make it to the moon. Political reform would follow in trouble spots around the world. Birds would sing. The lion and the lamb would lie down together. A new day would dawn.

Well Tom, to quote my granddad, you can wish in one hand and piss in the other and see which one fills up first. Time to come to terms with the people in charge. Earnest idealists they ain't.

Brilliant bit of Bhopal activism

On this, the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, hats off to Andy Bichlbaum for a brilliant bit of activist theater.  

Yesterday, the smooth-talking wag posed as a representative of Dow Chemical -- which in 2001 bought Union Carbide, the culprit in the deadly Bhopal catastrophe -- and got himself on BBC World TV news, where he announced that Dow was taking responsibility for the world's worst environmental accident and would pay $12 billion to victims to make amends.

Of course, it was all a charade.