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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 […]

Glade Tidings

Judge Agrees to Appoint Expert to Oversee Everglades Cleanup Dealing a blow to both Bush administrations (that is, G.W. in the White House and Jeb in Florida), a federal judge agreed late yesterday to appoint an expert to monitor the $8 billion restoration and cleanup of the Everglades. Environmentalists and a Native American tribe had […]

Sasakawa It to ’em

Two Environmentalists Win UNEP Award Two dedicated environmentalists — one from China, one from Brazil — will share the Sasakawa Prize, which is awarded every year by the United Nations Environment Programme. Xie Zhenhua, vice chair of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, has spent more than 20 years promoting environmental […]

The Good of Small Things

Aussies See Big Business in Small Life Forms Here’s an investment tip from Down Under: bacteria. That’s right — Australian scientists are creating a range of bacteria-based products to help clean up the environment, and, while they’re at it, reap some of the riches of a $5 billion global market in environmental biotechnology. A coalition […]

A look behind the Senate’s thumbs-up on Leavitt

It’s no surprise that Mike Leavitt will finally take the helm at the U.S. EPA. But who knew, after all the Democratic resistance to his nomination, that keen political maneuvering on the part of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Jim Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, would usher the […]

Is the Sea Half-empty or Half-full?

Kazakh Dam Could Save Northern Aral Sea, But Kill Southern Portion A seven-mile dam now under construction could mean total devastation for a large southern section of the already beleaguered Aral Sea, which straddles the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Once the world’s fourth largest inland sea, the Aral has lost half […]

Big Gulp

Ford May Restart Production of Its Biggest SUV Ford Motor Co. disappointed enviros with an announcement this week that it may resume production of its monster-sized Excursion SUV, dubbed the Valdez by the Sierra Club. Last year, Ford said it would stop producing the Excursion after the 2004 model year because of falling sales, but […]