Latest Articles

National Park Service employees muzzled on budget shortfalls and other problems

Bush addresses NPS employees in Sequoia National Park. Photo: NPS. It’s the reverse of the Midas touch — instead of turning to gold, everything they touch turns to shit.” That’s how Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, explained the recent activities of the Bush administration’s National Park Service to Muckraker. “Parks […]

A Rush and a Swoosh and the Land Is Ours

Nike and Other Outdoor Gear Makers Lobby for Roadless Rule A coalition of large manufacturers of outdoor gear is lobbying in support of the so-called roadless rule, put in place by President Clinton to protect nearly 60 million acres of undeveloped national forest from road-building and other development. Organized by enviro groups, the coalition — […]

Heavy Heart

Driving Is Bad for You Driving too much may not just be bad for the planet — it may be bad for your heart as well. According to new research by the U.S. EPA, tiny particulates that pollute the air inside cars can aggravate existing heart conditions. Rolling your windows up and closing your vents […]

Have You Spotted Owls?

Spotted-Owl Populations Declining The northern spotted owl, a species that took on huge symbolic significance in the early ’90s when activists used its protected status to sharply curtail logging in federal old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest, is once again the center of controversy. A study released yesterday shows that spotted-owl populations in the region […]

Fear in a Handful of Dust

Household Dust Carries Toxic Chemicals According to a pair of new studies, common household dust carries “unexpectedly high” levels of PBDEs — chemicals used as fire retardants in computers, appliances, and household furnishings, which researchers suspect may cause cancer and stunt fetal brain development. “Exposure to brominated fire retardants is unavoidable,” concluded a study by […]

Separating the Wheat From the Chaff

Monsanto Abandons Plans for GM Wheat With little fanfare, biotech-food giant Monsanto announced yesterday that it would abandon plans to introduce genetically modified wheat to the market. Anti-GM activists, who have fought Monsanto’s plans for some five years, celebrated the announcement as a major victory. However, the impetus for the shift was likely not the […]

Win Diesel

EPA Announces New Diesel Regulations Today the U.S. EPA put in place tough new regulations on off-highway diesel engines — tractors, bulldozers, locomotives, etc. — which produce more soot than the nation’s entire on-road vehicle fleet. The agency says the regs will cut emissions from such equipment by 90 percent over a decade by requiring […]

This Land Is Mine Land

Old Mining Law Gives Taxpayers the Shaft Under an 1872 mining law, private companies and individuals have laid claim to 9.2 million acres of public land for mining, often at prices of $5 an acre or less, says a new report — and 1.2 million acres of that is controlled by foreign companies. The 132-year-old […]

A Thorn in Our ‘Cides

Study Finds High Levels of Pesticides in U.S. Bodies A large percentage of U.S. residents have unsafe levels of pesticides in their bodies, and children, women, and Mexican-Americans are particularly at risk, says a new study. The Pesticide Action Network analyzed data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the levels […]

Bamboo-zled

Pandas Threatened by Loss of Bamboo Up to half of the world’s 1,200 species of woody bamboo are in danger of extinction because of deforestation, and their demise would spell big trouble for the animals that depend on them for sustenance, including one of nature’s cuddliest critters, the giant panda. A study released today by […]