Latest Articles
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Riders on the Storm
Massive Asian Sandstorms Threaten Environment, Health Massive sandstorms in Asia are on the rise and pose a growing threat to the environment and human health, say experts at the United Nations Environment Program. The storms — which generally originate in desert regions of northern China and Mongolia and rage southeastward across the Korean Peninsula, Japan, […]
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We Just Don’t Have Chemistry
Bush Administration Hampers Crackdowns on Toxic Chemicals For decades, the U.S. was a key player in international efforts to regulate the use of highly toxic chemicals, but under the Bush administration the country is acting mainly as a roadblock to these efforts, say critics. President Bush started off on the right foot with an announcement […]
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Stop Us If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before
Clean Water Act Violations Widespread, EPA Enforcement Down Violations of the Clean Water Act are rampant, but enforcement of the act by the U.S. EPA is down sharply in the last three years. According to a new study by the U.S. Public Research Interest Group, more than 60 percent of all major plants and factories […]
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LEEDing Light
Green Building Is Booming Once a fringe movement, born of the 1970s energy crisis, green building is going mainstream with a vengeance. Through its four-year-old Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, the U.S. Green Building Council has certified 149 million square feet of commercial and high-rise residential space as green, up from 8 […]
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Bush’s mercury proposal draws heat from both sides of the aisle
The Capitol is heating up over mercury. Photo: NIH. A handful of Beltway wags are contending that mercury is the new arsenic, the latest symbol of official disregard for environmental health. Their claim is lent credence by an ongoing flurry of controversies surrounding the Bush administration’s plan for dealing with the toxic pollutant. A revealing […]
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Rubber Ducking
On Family Planning, the U.S. Faces International Isolation As if the rest of its international agenda weren’t unpopular enough, the Bush administration is further isolating itself from the global community with its positions on family planning and women’s reproductive rights in developing countries. To appease its socially conservative political base at home, the administration has […]
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H2Glow
Nuclear Weapons Plants Threaten Water Sources, Says Report Radioactive and toxic byproducts from the 13 nuclear weapons facilities in the U.S. pose a grave danger to several major water sources and tens of thousands of people who rely on them. So says a report released Monday by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based […]
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So Far, Sow Good
Foundation Sells Businesses on Green Practices Across the U.S., businesses are being pressured to adopt more eco-friendly, sustainable practices — not by government regulation, but by their own shareholders. This ground-up movement is coordinated by organizations like As You Sow, a San Francisco-based consulting firm that helps grassroots shareholder groups find major-investor backing and put […]
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Against the Grain
GM Rice to Be Grown in California California is finding itself planted squarely in the center of an international debate over genetically modified crops. Yesterday, a California Rice Commission advisory panel voted 6-5 to allow the cultivation of a genetically modified form of rice designed to produce human proteins — and, eventually, pharmaceuticals — on […]
