Latest Articles

The Chem Reaper

Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Slowly Gaining Recognition For years, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities has been dismissed by the mainstream medical community and most public officials as a phantom, a loosely related set of symptoms — everything from migraines to aches to vomiting — with no consistent physiological underpinning. But as MCS — which is characterized by adverse […]

Lease Us Not Into Temptation

Bush Administration Says It Will Delay Some Drilling On Monday, the Interior Department announced that it may delay some oil and gas drilling projects on federal lands until their effects on wildlife can be more adequately studied. This seemingly sharp break with the accelerated leasing of public land in the past few years came, according […]

Plowshares Into Swords

California’s Agricultural Industry Gears Up to Fight for GM Crops The nascent movement against genetically modified crops in California has spurred the state’s agricultural industry to action. Ballot measures banning the cultivation of GM crops have already passed in Mendocino and Trinity counties, and will appear on November ballots in Butte, Humboldt, Marin, and San […]

Peter Huhtala, an oceans defender, answers questions

Peter Huhtala. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I work with Pacific Marine Conservation Council, a West Coast nonprofit that brings together commercial and recreational fishers, marine scientists, environmentalists, and others who care passionately about the long-term health of our marine ecosystem and the communities that depend on the life of this ocean. My […]

Dain Bramage

Chemical Pollutants May Be Leading to Rise in Neurological Diseases The number of people suffering from neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s has risen sharply in industrialized countries, and according to a new report in the journal Public Health, chemical pollutants may be to blame. The incidence of Alzheimer’s and other dementias has more than […]

Look, Over There! A War!

With Public Attention Elsewhere, Bush Rolls Back Regulations The Bush administration, critics say, has taken advantage of the public’s distraction since 9/11 to govern via regulatory initiatives and rollbacks — which, unlike new laws, do not require congressional approval. Pro-business measures enacted by the Bushies include a rule allowing Forest Service managers to circumvent environmental […]

Regulatus Interruptus

Rule Helps Industry Weasel out of Regulations, Enviros Say Speaking of regulations: The Data Quality Act — written by an industry lobbyist and tacked onto a massive appropriations bill in 2000 — has become a tool used by industry to forestall regulation, critics charge. The DQA instructs the federal Office of Management and Budget to […]

Umbra on hydroponic farming

Dear Umbra, What are the advantages of hydroponics, and if it is so good, why isn’t it used more? LukeMitchellville, Iowa Dearest Luke, Plants take up most of their nutrients through their roots, despite all we learned in elementary school about leaves making food from the sun. Soil is a complex conglomeration of minerals, nutrients, […]

Heaven Can’t Wait

Climate Stability Possible with Current Technology, Researchers Say Stabilizing global emissions of carbon dioxide and forestalling the worst consequences of global warming are possible with current technology, say Princeton researchers today in the journal Science. While the Bush administration has stressed the need for “revolutionary technologies … to transform the way we produce and consume […]

Killer Waves, Dude

Researchers Predict Hotter, Longer Heat Waves So, having learned that we can meliorate climate change, we flip a few pages over in the latest issue of Science to find out what will happen if we don’t — and it isn’t pretty. Scientists predict that heat waves in some parts of Europe and North America will […]