Latest Articles

How to streamline your life and still enjoy the heck out of it

Editor’s note: Ever wonder when We the People stopped being called citizens and started being called consumers? Take back your real identity, and take the consumption-crazy days from Thanksgiving to New Year’s in stride — with Umbra Fisk’s guide to graceful (and limited) consuming. Consumption is one of life’s great pleasures. Buying things we crave, […]

Hubris on the Yangtze

555 — height, in feet, of the Washington Monument, the tallest structure in Washington, D.C. 575 — height, in feet, of the new Three Gorges Dam in China (which is also wider than 100 Washington Monuments standing edge to edge) 4.3 million — cubic meters of concrete needed to build the Panama Canal 26.4 million […]

The Few, the Proud, the Exempt

Defense Bill Will Exempt Military from Species-Protection Laws The U.S. military may be having trouble achieving its goals in Iraq, but at least it’s getting what it wants on Capitol Hill: exemptions from key environmental laws. President Bush today is scheduled to sign a $401 billion defense authorization bill that includes provisions exempting the military […]

Anemone Mine

Fluorescent Fish Will Become First Genetically Engineered Pet in U.S. If genetically engineered food ruffles your feathers, get a load of this: The nation’s first genetically altered pet, a glow-in-the-dark tropical zebra fish, made its public debut on Friday. Developed by a Texas company and intended to be sold for about $5 a pop in […]

Dollars and Sense

Big Institutional Investors Press for Info on Climate Change Risks Officials controlling the largest pension funds in the U.S. on Friday called on publicly traded companies, federal regulators, and Wall Street to get serious about assessing and disclosing the financial risks posed by climate change. The comptrollers of New York state and New York City, […]

Spin Meisters

New Mini-Turbine Can Generate Electricity from Atop Homes and Offices The winds of change may soon bring mini-turbines to rooftops near you. A Scottish company today is launching Britain’s first wind-power system designed to be affixed to almost any roof to supplement electricity gotten from the grid. The 3-by-2-foot box with three rotating blades, which […]

Stall’s Well That Ends Well

Opponents Block Vote on Energy Bill in Senate A massive and highly controversial energy bill stalled out in the Senate this morning, when its supporters fell two short of the necessary 60 votes to end debate on the legislation. Those in favor of the bill, which has already been passed by the House, argue that […]

Slope on a Rope

Bush Administration Opens Alaskan Land to Drilling Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t on the oil-and-gas chopping block under the terms of the current behemoth energy bill, but the rest of the state isn’t quite as lucky: The Bush administration will announce today that it plans to open 8.8 million acres of Alaska’s North Slope […]

No Silva Lining

Once Seen as Ally, Brazilian President Draws Fire From Enviros It’s been a roller coaster year for environmentalists in Brazil. Last October, with the election to the presidency of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula, for short), they were elated, because he was seen as one of their own. Now, though, enviros say they have […]

Finding Memo

Industry Poised to Clash with California Over Chemical Testing California, ever on the cutting edge of environmental policy, is considering following the lead of the European Union by requiring more safety testing of chemicals — a move the chemical industry doesn’t plan to take lying down. According to a memo from the American Chemical Council […]