Latest Articles
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Mr. Mercury Goes to Washington
Bush Foes Intend to Make Mercury a Campaign Issue Enviros and Bush adversaries are plotting to make mercury an issue in the presidential campaign. Controversy has been swirling around the Bush administration’s plan for reducing mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, a plan that critics say panders to industry with unambitious reduction targets, prolonged timetables, […]
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A paddler travels one of India’s great rivers before a dam changes it for good
Except for the occasional palm or banana tree, the Himalayan canyon walls look like those carved by the Salmon River in Idaho: The hillsides are brown and dotted with pine groves, and the boulder-strewn banks of the river give way to stretches of white sand. But this is the Bhagirathi River, half a world away […]
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Hair-Raising News
Shampoos and Other Personal Products May Pose Health Risks Do you know how toxic your shampoo is? Many personal-care products contain ingredients whose health effects are untested or, worse, ingredients known to pose health risks or even cause cancer, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group and other nonprofits. Only 11 percent […]
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In for the Long Haul
Supreme Court Opens U.S. Roads to Mexican Trucks In a victory for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court yesterday unanimously ruled that Mexican trucks can haul their goods throughout the U.S. even if the government hasn’t studied how their emissions would affect air quality. Enviro and labor groups and nine states had sought to prevent […]
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Life Intimidating Art
Feds Go After Artist Critical of Biotechnology The FBI is using the Patriot Act to go after an artist whose work calls into question the safety and morality of genetic modification of crops and other uses of biotechnology. Steve Kurtz — an art professor at the University at Buffalo and cofounder of an artists’ collective […]
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My Big Fat Greek Olympics
Enviros Say Athens Olympics Will Fall Short of Green Mark The Olympic Games in Athens this summer will be anything but green, says a new report released by the World Wildlife Fund. The U.N. Environment Program has also chastised Greek officials for failing to meet a number of environmental pledges they made when bidding for […]
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An urban advocate answers questions
With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I’m executive director of Urban Ecology, Inc. What does your organization do? The five-second elevator speech goes like this: “We offer pro-bono land-use planning and policy advocacy to help transform struggling, low-income neighborhoods into vibrant, healthy communities.” The longer explanation goes like this (and after you read this, […]
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Umbra on strategic voting and writing to legislators
Dear Umbra, I’m a dislocated Texas resident living in Georgia, and I frequently send action emails to congressional leaders on environmental issues. Which leaders should I be sending my emails to: those I vote for in Texas or the Georgia ones? I’m afraid that when I email the Texas leaders they’ll see my present Georgia […]
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War in the Time of Cholera
Baghdad Residents Suffer from Polluted Water As if the chaos and violence weren’t enough to bear, millions of Baghdad residents also lack a reliable source of clean water. Some have no choice but to get supplies straight from the Tigris River, which is teeming with raw sewage, pesticides, oil, heavy metals, and, thanks to the […]
