Latest Articles

Justice of the Greenpeace

Federal Case Against Greenpeace Thrown Out of Court The U.S. government’s unusual criminal suit against Greenpeace USA was rather unceremoniously booted from federal court yesterday by U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan. In a rare “directed verdict,” the judge found the group not guilty midway through the trial, after the prosecution had presented its case but […]

Survival of the Weakest

Humans Affecting Evolution of Other Species Lay scientists tend to think of evolution as a glacially slow process, with changes measured in hundreds of thousands of years, not decades. However, growing collaboration between ecologists and evolutionary biologists is highlighting a phenomenon called “contemporary evolution” — and it ain’t pretty. Turns out, by culling the largest, […]

The Lawn and Short of It

Organic Lawn Care Taking Off With the U.S. adding some 2 million acres of residential property a year, lawns are becoming a significant environmental issue. In addition to sucking up water — the average lawn drinks about 10,000 gallons of water over and above rainfall, says the U.S. EPA — lawns are frequently doused with […]

Factory farms get off easy on air pollution

What do the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation, United Egg Producers, and Tyson Foods have in common? Crying fowl. Photo: USDA. Well, first there’s the obvious fowl connection. Then there’s the foul connection: Their facilities, known as “concentrated animal feeding operations” (CAFOs), have growing air-pollution problems thanks to the mountains of gas-emitting excrement […]

Ear Today, Ear Tomorrow

European Union Ends Ban on Genetically Modified Food The European Union today approved the import of a genetically modified, insect-resistant strain of sweet corn, thereby ending its six-year ban on new biotech foods. For now the corn can only be imported, not grown in Europe, but an application for its cultivation is pending — one […]

A Better Business Climate

Survey Finds Increasing Corporate Attention to Climate Change Climate change seems to be climbing the corporate agenda. An annual survey called the Carbon Disclosure Project — sponsored by a group of more than 90 institutional investors that collectively control some $10 trillion in assets — received nearly three times more responses this year than last […]

Loan Rangers

Activist Efforts to Pressure Corporations Find Some Success Speaking of corporations, it seems they may be more amenable to reforming their ways than governments — and with that in mind, activist groups are seeking eco-friendly commitments from companies. One group that’s had notable success is the Rainforest Action Network: In January, the group persuaded Citibank, […]

Jumbo Shrimp Problems

Shrimp Farming Wreaks Eco-Destruction, Group Says Shrimp farms are polluting land and oceans, destroying wetlands, and depleting wild fish stocks, wreaking environmental havoc on some of the world’s poorest countries, says the nonprofit Environmental Justice Foundation. The destruction is driven by a get-rich-quick attitude among farmers and aided and abetted by governments and development organizations, […]

Organics program weakened under Bush administration changes, activists say

The Bush administration is giving Americans new reason to watch what they eat — and it’s got nothing to do with carbs. Sealed with a hiss? Over the course of 10 days in mid-April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued three “guidances” and one directive — all legally binding interpretations of law — that threaten […]

No Dump Is an Island

Pacific Islands Drowning in Trash Many small island nations in the Pacific Ocean are slowly being smothered by trash, precipitating a crisis that has island enviros and politicians crying out for international assistance. The islands of Kiribati, for example, site of a bloody battle between U.S. and Japanese forces in World War II, are now […]