Latest Articles

They’re Going to Pump You Up

Supreme Court to Review Two Important Environmental Cases In what court-watchers are calling an unusually in-depth review of environmental issues, the Supreme Court is set to hear two cases today with potentially nationwide implications for clean air and water regulations. The first is an appeal by oil companies and diesel manufacturers (supported by the Bush […]

Hasta La Vista, Fishies

Schwarzenegger Cuts Moola for California Marine Reserves Plan In a boon for headline-writers who still haven’t exhausted their Terminator puns, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has put an indefinite hold on planning for a more than 1,000-mile-long necklace of no-fishing marine reserves along the California coast — mandated by a 1999 state law designed to […]

Bad Seed

Despite European Objections, GM Agriculture Marches On Worldwide use of genetically modified crops grew by 15 percent last year, according to a report by the industry-backed International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. In 1996, the year GM crops were made commercially available, 4.3 million acres were used for biotech cultivated crops. By 2003, […]

Flu Dunnit

Enviro Disruptions Will Cause More Animal Diseases to Jump to Humans In coming years, diseases — primarily viruses — passed from animals to human beings pose one of the principal threats to world health, warned a conference of scientists at the Royal Society in London yesterday. Environmental disruptions ranging from deforestation to population migration to […]

Viscous Cycle

In Ironic Twist, Thawing Tundra Causes Trouble for Alaska’s Oil Industry Global warming — brought about in part by the burning of fossil fuels — has raised temperatures in Alaska and reduced the length of the “frozen season” during which oil-prospecting convoys are allowed to traverse the landscape. The past three decades have seen the […]

Orangutangle

Orangutans Face Possible Extinction in 20 Years, WWF Says Orangutans may have just two decades left if current trends continue, the World Wildlife Fund warned yesterday. One of the four great ape species, orangutans are rapidly disappearing from their only remaining native habitat on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. […]

All-wheel Jive

Subaru Outback to Become “Light Truck” to Avoid Fuel Economy Rules As of next year, Subaru’s Outback sedan will be classified as a “light truck,” thanks to some technical modifications to its ground clearance and back bumper position. The revised classification will place the car … er, truck in a category requiring (as of 2005) […]

I Am the Toxic Walrus

Arctic Natives, Minding Own Business, Suffer From Our Pollutants Toxic industrial chemicals, carried north by wind, ocean, and river currents, are polluting the traditional diet of native Arctic peoples in Greenland and Arctic Canada. The pollutants, including PCBs and up to 200 other hazardous compounds, are first consumed by zooplankton, then travel up the food […]

Sales Pitched

Forest Service Cancels Timber Sales in Tongass The U.S. Forest Service plans to cancel 20 timber sales in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest — not because it’s dedicated to preserving old growth in the vast rainforest, but because the sales were sure to be money-losers for logging companies. Enviros are feeling vindicated by the development; they […]

Claudio Padua, Institute for Ecological Research

Dr. Claudio Padua is cofounder, with his wife Suzana, of the Institute for Ecological Research (IPE), which works on conservation projects throughout Brazil. Monday, 12 Jan 2004 BANGALORE, India This week will certainly be one of the most important of my professional life. We will be creating, together with other organizations, an alliance of mid-size […]