Latest Articles

City Sickers

City Dwellers in Asia Face Rising Tide of Pollution-Related Illnesses Residents of urban areas throughout Asia will suffer from a broad range of serious health problems unless environmental conditions improve in a hurry, according to the World Health Organization. About 1.5 million Asians die every year from diseases related to air pollution, and many more […]

Coffee Roasting on an Open Fire

Eco-Friendly “Java Log” Aims for More of the Fake Firewood Market Ah, winter — icicles on the eves, smoke rising from the chimneys, a crackling fire, and emerging from it, that fragrant, familiar smell of … coffee? Yep, that’s right: A Canadian company is marketing fake logs made of recycled coffee grounds. Other fake logs, […]

Gulf Clubbed

Gulf of Mexico Beset by a Bevy of Environmental Ills The Gulf of Mexico is in deep trouble, reports the Naples Daily News in an extensive 15-part series. Named last year by the U.S. EPA as the dirtiest coastal body of water in the U.S., the gulf takes a beating from leaking hog-waste lagoons, fertilizer […]

On Thin Ice

Sierra Nevada Glaciers Are Shrinking Glaciers that have topped California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains for the past 1,000 years are shrinking markedly and even vanishing altogether, according to research by scientists from Portland State University and the U.S. Geological Survey. Seven Sierra Nevada glaciers that were surveyed over the summer are smaller than they were a […]

Dump Struck

Bush Lets Mining Companies Dump on More Public Land The Bush administration announced yet another environmental rollback on Friday, following a pattern of releasing such news right before a holiday weekend, presumably in hopes that it will slip past the public’s notice. This time the beneficiaries are mining companies, which, thanks to a reinterpretation of […]

Solar Flair

U.S. Companies Are Getting Hip to Solar A growing number of U.S. companies are installing solar-power systems at their facilities, driven at least in part by government tax credits and incentives that make solar more financially attractive. Johnson & Johnson, for example, has built a large solar installation on the roof of a major facility […]

Creature Discomforts

Endangered Species May Soon Be Imported to U.S., Under Bush Proposal The Bush administration wants to radically alter conservation policies to allow hunters, circuses, the pet industry, and leather importers to bring endangered animals into the U.S. from other nations — dead or alive. Since its adoption in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has been […]

Conan the Solarian

Schwarzenegger’s Environmental Policies Look Good — for Now Whether you’re gleeful, woeful, incredulous, or inconsolable about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful bid for the governorship of California, your inner environmentalist may have reason to take heart. What with championing solar energy, calling for green building design, promoting air and water quality, opposing further logging in the Sierras, […]

You Can’t Hide, You’re Hybridized

Hybridization Between GM and Non-GM Plants Inevitable, Study Finds Confirming the fears of opponents of genetic modification, cross pollination between modified and wild plants cannot be prevented and could lead to the creation of hybrid “superweeds,” according to Britain’s first national study of how genes pass from crops to weeds. The findings differ from earlier […]

No Heir Apparent Until Air’s Apparent

Documents Show Sharp Dispute Took Place Over 9/11 Air Quality Information Newly released government documents are finally providing Congressional Democrats with what they’ve been looking for: information about who was responsible for censoring data about Manhattan’s air quality following the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Those documents reveal “screaming telephone […]