Latest Articles

Umbra on recycling batteries

Dear Umbra, I have to humbly admit that for years I’ve known that one can recycle batteries, but unfortunately, I’ve never known where or how to do this. I’ve been living in Seattle and northern Italy for the last year, and I have a pile of old batteries in each place. If you have any […]

Race to the Bottom

Feds Not Adequately Addressing Environmental Racism, Report Finds Federal agencies are falling down on the job when it comes to making environmental justice part of their work, according to a report released this month by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. A 1994 executive order issued by President Clinton required the U.S. EPA and the […]

Advice on choosing carrots

Dearest Umbra, I’m curious how they make those mystical little carrots that are just the right size for snacking. Are baby carrots actually harvested that small, or are they carved out of bigger carrots? If they’re carved out of bigger carrots, where do all the shavings go? Bottom line: Am I supporting a wasteful production […]

Fighting Fire With Hot Air

California Wildfires Put Pressure on Senate to Pass Bush’s Forest Plan The wildfires raging through Southern California are turning up the heat on senators to pass President Bush’s “Healthy Forests” plan, which would limit environmental and judicial reviews of many logging projects in national forests with the stated aim of reducing the risk of fire. […]

Happy As a Clam

Prozac Ingredient Found to Accumulate in Fish Traces of the antidepressant Prozac have been found in fish in central Texas, according to first-of-its-kind research conducted by scientists at Baylor University. Fluoxetine hydrochloride, the active ingredient in Prozac, likely made its way into the fish tissue after passing through human bodies, through the sewer system, and […]

A Turkey of a Project

Big Pipeline Project Threatens Environment in Azerbaijan, Turkey BP and 10 other companies are plotting to build a 1,000-mile pipeline to carry oil from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Ceyhan, Turkey, at a cost of up to $4 billion. The project is enthusiastically backed by the U.S. government, which is on the lookout for new sources of […]

Andrew Larson, Seattle Public Utilities

Andrew Larson works in the Watershed Management Division of Seattle Public Utilities as a forest ecology intern. He is also pursuing graduate studies in Forest Ecosystem Analysis at the University of Washington. Monday, 27 Oct 2003 SEATTLE, Wash. Just a few weeks ago my life wasn’t quite so busy. I was working full-time in the […]

Airing Out the Dirty Laundry

EPA Official Knew Rule Change Could Hurt Enforcement, GAO Says The top air-quality official at the U.S. EPA was warned repeatedly by agency staffers that changes to the New Source Review rules of the Clean Air Act could undermine enforcement actions against polluting industrial plants, a General Accounting Office report found last week. But still […]

Spammed If You Do, Spammed If You Don’t

Breadfruit Trees Endangered by Climate Change and Western-Style Diet The breadfruit tree, which has long provided a dietary staple to residents of South Pacific islands, is in severe decline, experts say, threatened by climate change and, of all things, Spam. Breadfruit trees, with their shallow roots, are particularly vulnerable to storms and cyclones, which have […]

Brown Out

Two Enviros Named to San Francisco Power Commission in Political Coup A political coup in San Francisco last week led to two environmentalists being named to the city’s Public Utilities Commission: former Sierra Club President Adam Werbach and Robin Chiang, an architect specializing in eco-friendly design and construction. San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly was serving […]