Latest Articles

Soft Sell

McCain and Lieberman Soften Climate-Change Legislation The sponsors of a groundbreaking climate-change bill in the Senate are softening their legislation in an attempt to attract more support. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) announced yesterday that a revised version of their Climate Stewardship Act would not contain a requirement that carbon dioxide emissions […]

The Bush administration lets a profitable energy-efficiency program lapse

As of yesterday, Oct. 1, the most successful program in U.S. history for improving energy efficiency in federal buildings is toast. The demise of the Energy Savings Performance Contracting program is no insignificant matter, seeing as how the federal government is the single biggest energy-user in the nation. Taxpayers spend $4 billion per year to […]

New Kid on the Block

Democrats Block Vote on Leavitt’s Nomination to EPA As expected, Senate Democrats blocked a committee vote yesterday on President Bush’s nominee to head the U.S. EPA, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R). Though they insisted it was “nothing personal” against Leavitt, Democrats on the Senate Environment Committee, joined by independent Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.), boycotted a […]

Oil Be Seeing You

Oil and Gas Supplies Will Peak in a Decade, Swedish Scientists Assert World oil and gas supplies will peak soon after 2010 and be in short supply thereafter, causing worldwide economic havoc unless societies have adopted alternatives to fossil fuels, Swedish scientists predict in a controversial article published today in New Scientist magazine. Other scientists […]

Wolf at the Door

Enviros Sue Feds for Loosening Wolf Protections In an effort to make the western U.S. safe for gray wolves, 17 conservation groups teamed up yesterday to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for downgrading the species’ status from endangered to threatened in April. The coalition argued that the Bush administration was wrong to remove […]

Dead Heat

Global Warming May Be Killing 160,000 People a Year Climate change and its side effects may be killing about 160,000 people a year, with children in developing countries particularly vulnerable, according to a new report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization. By 2020, the annual number of […]

Nettling Question

Nettle Fabric Could Be Eco-Friendly Replacement for Cotton Fabric made from stinging nettles could be the next big thing in eco-friendly fashion. The process of growing nettles is much gentler on the Earth than growing cotton, which generally entails high use of water and pesticides. (Almost a quarter of the world’s pesticides are sprayed on […]

Minding Nemo

Tropical Fish Trade Threatens Coral Reef Ecosystems More than 20 million tropical fish and up to 10 million other marine critters are caught each year for the aquarium trade, according to a new report from the U.N. Environment Programme. One of the most destructive harvesting methods involves stunning tropical fish with a near-lethal dose of […]

Nuclear Waste By Any Other Name…

Energy Department Wants to Redefine Nuclear Waste The U.S. Department of Energy is asking Congress for the power to redefine some nuclear waste to allow it to be left where it is or disposed of at low-level radioactive waste sites instead of buried deep underground. The waste in question consists of tens of millions of […]

Drowned and Out

Three Gorges Dam Causing Unexpected Pollution Problems Unexpected environmental problems are already cropping up at China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower and construction project. After the dam went into operation in June, the reservoir behind it reached 443 feet and was supposed to stay at that level until 2006, but the Chinese government […]