Latest Articles
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Not all “eco-labels” are created equal
“What’s in a name?” asks Shakespeare. Conscientious food consumers are beginning to realize that the answer too often is, “Not much.” Eggsellent. Shoppers increasingly are willing to pay more for food produced in a way that protects human health, water, wildlife, rural communities, and farm workers. And this is not lost on marketers. Many grocery […]
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Crystallized Meth
Methane Hydrates Could Be Next Big Energy Source; Enviros Concerned Methane hydrates deep under the ocean floor and the Alaskan permafrost may represent the world’s next big energy source, if they can be extracted safely. Some 10 trillion tons of carbon are trapped in the strange ice-like compounds, which form when flammable methane gas is […]
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Biotech Dot Con
U.S. Government Funds Biotech-Boosting Website The U.S. government has launched a new website that trumpets the benefits of genetically modified foods — paid for with taxpayer dollars. It’s part of a larger State Department effort to “encourage broader adoption and acceptance of biotechnology in the developing world,” said department official Deborah Malac; the program got […]
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Regulate First, Ask Questions Later
Flurry of Charges Leads EPA to Revisit Mercury Regs Amid a swirl of angry charges from states, environmental groups, and its own employees, the U.S. EPA is promising to revisit controversial proposed regulations on mercury emissions from power plants. Several EPA staffers — who remain anonymous to avoid retaliation — revealed what enviro groups have […]
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EPA exaggerated claims about clean drinking water
That sinking feeling. The U.S. EPA claims it is successfully protecting the nation’s drinking-water supplies — but that claim seems to have sprung a leak. Earlier this month, the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General accused officials in the agency of consistently making bogus statements about improvements in the quality of America’s tap water. The […]
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Good Label Manners
Today’s conscientious consumer has a plethora of choices at the supermarket: “Free-Range,” “Farm-Friendly,” “Organic,” and that warmest and fuzziest of warm-fuzzies, “Natural.” These labels all sound wonderful, but what do they mean? Some of them, it turns out, mean quite a bit, while others mean almost nothing. Bewildered shoppers can get the scoop on which […]
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China “R” Us
China’s booming economy is straining the country’s energy resources to the breaking point. Last year its oil imports rose by a third, it became the world’s largest steel importer (surpassing the U.S.), its domestic coal production rose by 100 million tons — and still there were intermittent blackouts as electricity consumption jumped by 15 percent. […]
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Natural Corn Killers
Genetically modified corn has crept into Mexican fields, despite a federal prohibition against the planting of GM crops, and indigenous people and small-scale farmers are protesting loudly against the intrusion. In response, the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a body created through the NAFTA environmental side agreement, last week held a symposium on the […]
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Stand-up Comity
Oregon’s Siuslaw National Forest has emerged as a model for the way timber companies, environmentalists, and local communities can cooperate to manage forests. It is one of the few national forests in the state exceeding U.S. Forest Service logging goals. It’s also the site of substantial ecological restoration, with streams boasting seven times the levels […]
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Fed Up
Efforts by U.S. states in the northeast to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are falling short, in part due to unsympathetic federal policies. While they see plenty of room for more aggressive efforts, even the region’s most vocal environmental critics acknowledge that northeastern states have taken unprecedented steps to reduce emissions. The biggest initiative has been […]
