Latest Articles
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Pop-Tarts
U.S. Accused of Trying to Isolate United Nations Population Fund United Nations officials, diplomats, and NGO workers are accusing the Bush administration of attempting to isolate the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) by bullying groups with which it works. Enviros, family-planning advocates, and other folks with a basic sense of decency have long criticized the administration […]
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Tim McCormick, public transit evangelist, answers questions
What environmental organization are you affiliated with? I’m planning manager at the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. It provides public transit for the state of Rhode Island. What do you really do, on a day-to-day basis? My job is really about being a liaison between the public and the bus system. Bus systems are not […]
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Advice on antioxidant-rich foods and why they cost so much
Dear Umbra, Antioxidant foods are “the thing” right now, and I would love to be able to eat as many as I need. However, they are usually the most expensive fruits and vegetables. Would it not make sense for farmers or producers to grow these products in greater volume, so we could all afford them […]
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Sprawl the Right Moves
Urban Planner Seeks New Vocabulary to Describe Sprawl Delores Hayden, a Yale professor of architecture, urbanism, and American studies, found herself struggling when she tried to describe the characteristic features of the sprawling suburbs surrounding American cities — features that are now ubiquitous but which have emerged so quickly, historically speaking, that our ability to […]
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The Price Isn’t Right
Gas Prices Not At Record High — and Proposed Solutions Wouldn’t Lower Them Gasoline prices have become a political hot potato in this election season, but most analysts agree there is very little substance behind the sound and fury. Current gas prices, hovering around $2 per gallon, do not constitute a “record high.” Adjusted for […]
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Oh Riley?
West’s Water Woes Put Spotlight on Bush Water Czar When the Bush administration appointed Bennett Riley to oversee both the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation, environmentalists feared the worst. Riley, a cowboy-turned-lawyer and longtime advocate for property rights and against government regulation, hardly seemed like an auspicious choice for water czar. But […]
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The Chipping News
Organic Snack Foods on the Rise One of the fastest growing segments of the $23 billion organic foods industry — faster than produce or dairy products — is snack food: chips, candy, nutrition bars, and the like, sales of which grew by almost 30 percent last year. If that strikes you as odd, you will […]
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Kids Rocked
Enviro Problems Cause One-Third of Child Deaths in Europe Environmental hazards are responsible for a third of all child deaths — some 100,000 a year — in the 52 countries of the European region, according to a new study. Published by World Health Organization researchers in the medical journal The Lancet, the study audited the […]
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Forgive Me, Father, for I Have Wind
The Main Objections to Wind Farms The political — and in some places legal — pressure to move to renewable energy is raising the profile of wind energy and the wind farms and wind turbines that generate it. In locales from India to the U.K., groups have agitated against wind farms for a variety of […]
