Latest Articles

What a Drag

Pollution Gives Girlish Traits to Boy Turtles Some male snapping turtles in the Great Lakes are suffering from reduced penis size and are producing egg yolk protein, a capability once available only to female turtles, according to researchers from the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada. The research adds to a growing body of knowledge […]

Endangered, Will Robinson!

Endangered Species Act Under Attack Again Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) is once again on the attack against the Endangered Species Act. Nearly a decade ago, during the “Gingrich Revolution,” Pombo was one of two reps chosen by the GOP leadership to assault the law, but the “reforms” he proposed then were so radical that they […]

Tuna Fishy

Feds Knew “Dolphin-Safe” Rules Were Being Broken In 2002, the Bush administration relaxed restrictions on foreign-caught tuna, allowing boats that netted dolphins to sell their tuna as “dolphin-safe” in the U.S. as long as the dolphins were released. The relaxed rule relied on the fact that observers were placed on boats to report on whether […]

Disorder in the Court

Cheney Task Force Supreme Court Case Gets Underway Court watchers hoping to witness fireworks or heated accusations about duck hunting or energy-executive cuddling were sorely disappointed by the kickoff yesterday of the Supreme Court case regarding Vice President Dick Cheney’s infamous energy task force. Opening arguments — by Cheney’s lawyer Ted Olson and lawyers from […]

Umbra on environmentally oblivious teens

Dear Umbra, My girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter lives with us, and she’s the most environmentally oblivious person I’ve ever met. She makes George Bush and Dick Cheney look like card-carrying members of the Green Party. She throws trash out the car window or tosses it on the street. She never shuts off a light or turns […]

Umbra on environmental stress

Dear Umbra, I’m the poster child for a late-twentysomething environmentally responsible adult. I use less than 100 gallons of gas a year, less than 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month, less than 20 gallons of water per day, less than 100 therms of natural gas during the winter in Minnesota. I take my garbage out […]

Marianne Horinko, high-ranking EPA official, steps down

The language is increasingly familiar: “I’m leaving at this time in order to spend more quality time with my family. … I realize that I need to devote more time and energy to being [a] wife and mom.” Marianne Horinko. Photo: U.S. EPA. Yep, another beleaguered Bush appointee at the U.S. EPA bites the dust. […]

Umbra on environmentally oblivious family

Dear Umbra, I am totally frustrated with my in-laws. They know how important it is for us to raise our infant in the least toxic environment we can manage. However, when we go to their house, I have no control over the situation. We arrived there for Easter vacation only to find out that three […]

Rouge Awakening

Ford Unveils New Green Assembly Plant On the site of its nearly 90-year-old Rouge manufacturing complex, where workers once assembled Model A’s, Ford Motor Co. yesterday unveiled its new Dearborn Truck Plant, touted as a model of 21st-century, eco-friendly manufacturing. The multibillion-dollar plant is chockablock with innovative features. A 10-acre “living roof” covered in sedum […]

Dread for the Border

New Border Enforcement Plan Worries Enviros An aggressive new plan to crack down on illegal immigration and smuggling over the Arizona-Mexico border will damage fragile federally protected land that serves as habitat for several endangered species, say some enviros. The Arizona Border Control Initiative, announced in March by the Department of Homeland Security, involves, among […]