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The Icky 500

New EPA Chief Calls for Cleaner Air in 500 Days Newly minted U.S. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt gave his first major speech yesterday, promising to embark on the “most productive period of air-quality improvement in American history.” The former Utah governor spoke of a 500-day plan for cleaner air but offered no details on it. […]

Markey-Mark and the Nukey Bunch

GAO Finds Shortage of Money for Closing Atomic Reactors Nearly half of the nuclear-reactor owners in the U.S. are not setting aside sufficient money to decommission the plants when they are shuttered, according to a report by the General Accounting Office. As a result, 42 plants might not have enough money to be safely shut […]

Skiing Downhill

Global Climate Change Could Spell End of Winter Sports Industry Bad news for ski bums: As global climate change heats up the planet and pushes snow lines ever higher, many winter resorts in Europe might have to shut down. Less expensive, low-altitude destinations will be particularly hard hit, with some slopes in Italy, Austria, and […]

What, Exxon Unethical? You’re Kidding Me!

Academics Up in Arms Over Exxon-Funded Research When Exxon went to court in 1997 to appeal a $5.3 billion punitive damage verdict over the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, it cited articles from respected journals and law reviews that found that high punitive damages were bad for society or based on the unjust whims of […]

Climate talks are on the rocks, but not dead yet

The hippest catwalk in Milan this week. Photo: IISD. Milan is famous for opera and fashion, so perhaps it’s appropriate that the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol conference, being held in the Italian city this week and next, has so far been characterized by high drama and public spectacle. Some 180 negotiators from around the world […]

From Russia, Without Love

Russia Rejects Kyoto Protocol, Likely Killing Climate Change Treaty The Kyoto Protocol on climate change received a presumably fatal blow today, when Russia announced that it will not ratify the agreement in its current form. Without Russia or the U.S. on board, the treaty will not have buy-in from at least 55 countries that account […]

Go Ahead, Makah My Day

Court Upholds Block on Makah Whale Hunt Whale advocates are celebrating in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling last week that will make it tougher for the Makah tribe of Washington state to resume hunting gray whales. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to overturn a ban on whaling and ordered […]

Starlink Trek: The Next Generation

Banned Biotech Corn Variety Still Showing Up in U.S. Food Supplies Genetically engineered StarLink corn is still contaminating U.S. food supplies, three years after it was pulled from the market. StarLink, which produces its own pesticide, was approved in 1998 — but only for use in animal feed or industrial processes because of concerns that […]

Whatever Floats Your Nuke

Russia Offers Floating Nuclear Plants to India How’s this for a bad idea: floating nuclear plants. Russia, which has plans to build 11 such plants in its far north in the next few years, is also hoping to export the technology. Last month, Russia pitched the idea to India, reportedly offering to moor Russian-operated nuke […]

Less Bark, More Bite

Logging in the Amazon Leads to Increase in Malaria Destruction of the Amazon rainforest is encouraging the spread of malaria, according to new research based on data from Peru. Every 1 percent boost in deforestation increases the number of malaria-bearing mosquitoes by 8 percent, seemingly because these mosquitoes thrive in ponds that are exposed to […]