Latest Articles

Meet the Newmont, Same As the Oldmont

Mining company looks bad in report on pollution of Indonesian bay The saga of Newmont Mining Corp.’s mine in Buyat Bay in Indonesia is long and full of drama, like a soap opera, only with more dead and disfigured Indonesian children. The company has been accused by local villagers of polluting the bay, and the […]

We Was Cobbed!

NAFTA panel says U.S. GM corn is invading Mexico A panel of scientists convened by NAFTA at the request of Mexican farmers and officials has concluded that genetically modified corn grown in the U.S., where it is legal, is crossing the border and contaminating crops in Mexico, where it is not, and that the contamination […]

EPA Denies Poor Families Camcorders

Controversial EPA pesticide study put on hold A proposed study of pesticide exposure in children to be run by the U.S. EPA has been suspended in response to growing controversy inside and outside the agency. In exchange for participating in the study — i.e., allowing their children to be exposed to pesticides — families in […]

Sol Train

Spain makes solar panels on new homes mandatory Hoping to catch up to solar powerhouse Germany, sunny Spain has announced that as of next year, solar panels will become mandatory on new and renovated buildings. The government is shooting for a tenfold increase in the total square footage of solar panels by 2010. Domestic solar […]

Save the Roadless Rule

Monday (Nov. 15) is the last day to comment on the Bush administration's unbelievably awful proposal to overturn the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. You can send comments directly to the feds here. Or, you can submit a comment through the Wilderness Society, who will cc your governor, here.  If you're not yet convinced that scrapping the Roadless Rule is a manifestly bad idea, the Wilderness Society has the top ten reasons. They've also got a fact sheet on roadless areas in various states. They've also got a handy chronology of the rule's history.  Come to think of it, the Wilderness Society is all over it. You should be too.

Al Gore launches an investment firm focused on sustainability

After the whole endorsing-Howard-Dean thing didn't work out, Al Gore is hoping his new venture is more successful: It's an investment firm called Generation Investment Management that will focus on socially and environmentally conscious companies. The firm's approach "is designed to serve people who want to integrate sustainable returns with traditional equity analysis," said the former VP with his typical fiery charisma. David Blood, formerly CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, will serve as managing partner of the firm, while Gore will act as chair, shaping its overall strategy but not choosing investments. "I'm not a stock picker," he emphasized (again, see: Howard Dean). He said the firm will meet a rising demand for long-term analysis that takes into account the "carbon intensity" of companies' profits.

Topic of Cancer

Scientists seek environmental causes of breast cancer Scientists currently know enough about breast cancer “to explain about half the causes,” says Aaron Blair of the National Cancer Institute. To fill in the gaps, researchers are increasingly focusing on possible environmental causes like exposure to radiation or toxic chemicals in air, water, and food. Traditionally, studies […]

Undercooked Marburger

Study finds effects of global warming across America Despite alarming studies about the consequences of climate change across the globe — the latest, just last week, documents massive changes in Arctic geography and wildlife — U.S. citizens remain curiously unconcerned about the issue. Perhaps a new report from the Pew Center for Global Climate Change […]

Blood and Gore

Al Gore launches an investment firm focused on sustainability After the whole endorsing-Howard-Dean thing didn’t work out, Al Gore is hoping his new venture is more successful: It’s an investment firm called Generation Investment Management that will focus on socially and environmentally conscious companies. The firm’s approach “is designed to serve people who want to […]

Exx the Foul

ExxonMobil’s greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, supported President Bush’s decision to keep the U.S. from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. In a wacky coincidence, the company’s greenhouse-gas emissions have been increasing, last year rising 2 percent to almost 150 million tons — more than twice the emissions of the entire […]