Latest Articles

Refiner-Ease

EPA Goes Easy on Oil Refineries The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is running an investigatory series (remember investigatory journalism?) on the EPA and its relationship to the nation’s 145 oil refineries. During the Bush administration, there’s been a precipitous drop in clean-air enforcement actions against refineries, which are some of the nation’s top polluters. They spew […]

Social Lite

More Businesses Flock to U.N.’s Social-Responsibility Compact The five-year-old United Nations Global Compact, which held its first summit in New York City last month, is the world’s biggest corporate social-responsibility initiative, with some 1,700 signatories. And what business wouldn’t want to sign on? In exchange for endorsing principles — principles with no mechanism for enforcement […]

Bhopal-Bearer

Judge Orders Payments to Bhopal Victims Released Yesterday, the Supreme Court of India ordered the government to release the remaining compensation owed the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak, the world’s worst industrial disaster, which left some 20,000 people dead, 120,000 chronically ill, and groundwater poisoned to this day. The original compensation paid by […]

Train Has Left the Station

Republican Ex-EPA Chief Criticizes Bush “It’s almost as if the motto of the administration in power today in Washington is not environmental protection, but polluter protection.” Why, what sort of pinko environmental extremist would say such a thing? Meet Russell Train, a Republican, chief of the U.S. EPA under Nixon and Ford, co-chair of Conservationists […]

Ray Vaughan, an environmental lawyer, answers questions

Ray Vaughan. With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am executive director of WildLaw. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute “mission accomplished”? WildLaw is a nonprofit environmental law firm that represents hundreds of community, environmental, and conservation organizations around the country. We work mainly in the Southeast, but […]

Umbra on keeping cool without selling out

Dear Umbra, Please advise me on the best way to beat the summer heat! I live in a rather steamy studio apartment and thus far have been languishing under fans in front of the open window, lapping up ice cream, and taking many cold showers. I feel a tad guilty about the excess use of […]

It’s Only a Model

Chesapeake Bay Progress Systematically Overstated Since the Chesapeake Bay Program — an alliance of the feds and several states — signed an agreement in 1987 to revitalize the ailing bay, it has been reporting steady progress, sapping local outrage and deferring lawsuits from enviros. Turns out, while the computer model that program scientists use to […]

Welsh Gambit

Welsh Village Adopts Long Name to Protest Wind Development Wind turbines are controversial in the U.K., where some people object to what they claim is the damage — both environmental and aesthetic — the turbines do to the landscape. When Gamesa Energy notified citizens of Llanfynydd in Carmarthenshire, Wales, of their plans to build a […]

Livin’ la Vida L’oppie

Trend Alert: Organic Professionals As everyone knows, a social movement is nothing until it is given a silly name, treated as a fad, trivialized, commodified, and ultimately destroyed by ravenous media. The latest trend to receive this dubious honor: organic professionals, or “oppies.” Modeled after the young urban professionals — or “yuppies” — we all […]

How does John Edwards stack up on the environment?

Edwards and Kerry hit the campaign trail. Photo: Kerry for President. When John Edwards was tapped to be John Kerry‘s veep last week, everyone interested in ousting Bush erupted into convulsions of praise — and the enviros were no exception. “An excellent choice that sends a clear message about the need for change and renewed […]