Latest Articles

Hollow Weenies

EPA Won’t Restrict Use of Potentially Harmful Weed Killer Talk about scary stuff: On Oct. 31, as people across the U.S. were getting ready to don costumes and pass out Halloween candy, the Bush administration announced that it would not impose new restrictions on the commonly used herbicide atrazine, which has been associated with low […]

What a Drag

Coral Gardens in Alaskan Waters Spur Controversy Over Trawling If you think coral is only to be found in warm, tropical waters, think again. Cold-water coral gardens contain a surprising array of biodiversity, and scientists discovered a particularly impressive coral bed in waters off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands last year, containing numerous coral varieties not seen […]

Every Which Way but Loose

Bush Administration Plans to Ease Sewage-Treatment Rules More disease-carrying microbes from doo-doo could contaminate U.S. waterways, lakes, and coastlines if the Bush administration proceeds with plans to loosen sewage-treatment requirements. This week, the U.S. EPA intends to unveil a proposed rule change that would let many communities skip a sewage-treatment step after storms cause an […]

Country Bird, City Bird

Audubon Society’s New Strategy Targets Urbanites and Minorities The National Audubon Society, long respected as a defender of birds and their habitat, is adopting a new strategy aimed at ensuring its own health and survival: The 98-year-old conservation group plans to build 1,000 urban nature centers in cities around the U.S. by 2020, an effort […]

Good Witches of the North

Canadian High Court Upholds “Polluter Pays” Principle While the “polluter pays” principle struggles here in the U.S., our neighbors to the north have resoundingly reaffirmed it. In a unanimous decision, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled yesterday that companies that pollute must pay for the damage they cause. The case in question concerned Imperial Oil, which, […]

The Ghost of Climate Change Future

Defeat on Climate Change Bill Masks Subtle Victory, Supporters Say As expected, a proposal to establish mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions was rejected yesterday by the U.S. Senate in a 55-43 vote. Still, supporters of the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), were generally pleased with the […]

Senate Chainsaw Massacre

Senate Passes Healthy Forests Initiative Meanwhile, forest management in the rest of the U.S. is set to change, too, with yesterday’s 80-14 Senate vote in favor of a compromise version of President Bush’s Healthy Forests initiative. Although the vote was somewhat influenced by the fires in California, its effect will be felt well beyond the […]

Green Gobblin’

California Fires Could Trigger Massive Changes in Forest Management The devastating forest fires raging across Southern California this week could initiate a change in environmental policy as sweeping — but probably not as desirable — as those ushered in by the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Forest-management experts say […]

A new consumer revolution could change the way we label food

There’s a tongue-in-cheek ad campaign going on in New York City right now regarding smoking in public places. The ads feature slogans like, “If they ban smoking in airports, people will never fly again,” and “If they ban smoking in bathrooms, people will never gossip again.” I thought of this campaign when I stumbled across […]

A Mine Is a Wonderful Thing to Waste

Wisconsin Tribes End Mining Threat by Buying Site In a stunning victory for environmentalists and Native Americans, Wisconsin’s Sokaogon Mole Lake Chippewa and Forest County Potawatomi tribes announced Tuesday that they had bought the rights to a zinc and copper mine near Crandon, ending a 25-year controversy. The $16.5 million purchase was the surprise result […]