Latest Articles

McCain ruffles GOP feathers with continued calls for action on climate change

McCain gets heated up. Presiding over his final hearing as chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee last week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered a feisty swan song assuring GOP colleagues and environmentalists alike that he won’t be giving up his fight for climate-change regulations anytime soon — even if the Bush administration […]

Milling About

Goodies on Gristmill There are lots of juicy bits on Gristmill these days, upon which we hope you will share your opinions. For instance, what did you think about the idea, recently propounded in Soapbox, that radicalism is the last thing enviros need in this day and age? Grist blogger Todd Hymas didn’t think much […]

Dear Father, Who Art in Heaven, Polluted Be Thy Air

Church air may be bad for believers’ lungs Whatever its effects on your soul, spending lots of time in church may be bad for your lungs, according to a new study out of Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Researchers measured air quality in a small chapel and a large basilica and found levels of particulate […]

Take It E.V.

Electric vehicles catching on in China; Smart cars coming to U.S. All the talk these days is about hybrid and hydrogen cars, but in China, where air pollution is an ongoing crisis, they haven’t given up on electric vehicles. Improvements in battery technology are making electric cars, scooters, and buses a viable option, with shorter […]

Mister Sandman, Bring Me a Stream

Glen Canyon Dam releases flood waters in massive experiment An extraordinary experiment got underway this past weekend, as four large valves at the base of Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona were cranked open to release up to 41,000 cubic feet of water a second. Scientists hope that the water will push sand, silt, and […]

Whereof One Cannot Speak, Thereof One Must Cope Nonetheless

Inuit don’t have words for the species global warming sends their way Among the many cruel and unexpected ironies of the melting Arctic — and fasten your seat belts, kids, there are plenty more coming! — is the fact that the Inuit people who populate the region are quite literally unable to describe their changing […]

An interview with Nell Newman, creator of Newman’s Own Organics

We have Thanksgiving to thank for the beloved Fig Newman. It was Nell Newman, daughter of actor Paul Newman, who actually created the eponymous product, but she had the opportunity only after convincing her father to take his food company, Newman’s Own, in an organic direction with a triumphant organic meal she whipped up for […]

Free the radicals

Dave's recent essay falsely equates being "radical" with being "violent." Violence and radicalism are not the same. Being a "radical" just means you want to see significant, fundamental changes to society -- say, a real, true shift to sustainability or an economy that actually values people and the environment over monetary profit. These are changes, I am willing to bet, that a large number of environmentalists would love to see. They are also radical. They would require a fundamental change to society. But does that shift have to include violence? Absolutely not.

Worldwatch kerfuffle

World Watch magazine's controversial article by Mac Chapin on how the Big Three conservation organizations are shafting indigenous peoples roiled the waters not just at those groups (World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and Conservation International) but at Worldwatch itself. The upshot: The magazine's editor is fleeing the coop.  

Future funding fortunes

According to analysis by the National Committee on Science and the Environment, budgets for the EPA and most non-defense science agencies would be cut under the Omnibus Appropriations bill Congress passed over the weekend. NCSE says:

...the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would decline by approximately $345 million or 4.1 percent to $8.02 billion in FY 2005. EPA's Science and Technology account would decline by approximately 4.9 percent to $744 million.

You can access more of NCSE's budget analysis of the supposedly 1,689 page document.

NCSE puts on a good annul conference in Washington by the way -- next year's is entitled Forecasting Environmental Change and runs 3-4 February 2005. Register by December 3 for a cut rate registration fee.