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  • Some Like It Cool

    Seeking Relief from Heat, Europeans Turn to Air Conditioning Concerned about their health and wary of technology, Europeans have long cast a skeptical eye on that most commonplace of U.S. appliances, the air conditioner. But this summer’s blistering heat has begun to change all that. Air conditioner sales in Europe are growing by more than […]

  • A new injection for men could shake up the world of contraceptives

    If you plan to have sex anytime soon, let’s hope it’s not in Niger, Africa. According to the nonprofit organization Save the Children, just 4 percent of couples in Niger have access to birth control. Although the situation in this West African country is extreme, more than 125 million couples worldwide — most of them […]

  • Turtle Goop

    Oil Spill off Pakistan’s Coast Threatens Marine Life Hundreds of dead turtles and fish are washing ashore near Pakistan’s port city of Karachi — victims of an oil spill emanating from a Greek tanker that ran aground nearby late last month. A massive oil slick from the ship has hit the shore, despite workers’ efforts […]

  • Voluntary Service

    Canada Unveils $1B Plan to Address Climate Change Canada is stepping up to the plate to tackle climate change — or at least emerging from the dugout. Prime Minister Jean Chretien yesterday unveiled a nearly $1 billion package aimed at helping the nation lower its emissions of greenhouse gases. The plan includes incentives for individuals […]

  • Who Was That Unmasked Man, Anyway?

    Hanford Cleanup Workers Worry About Toxic Vapors Dozens of cleanup workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state — the most contaminated site in the nation — have registered complaints in the past two years about ammonia-laden vapors seeping up from waste tanks at the site. The workers blame the noxious fumes for a […]

  • Threat Level: Orange

    Legacy of Agent Orange Continues to Haunt Vietnam Decades after the U.S. military sprayed Vietnam with millions of gallons of Agent Orange, fish and livestock in some parts of the nation are still highly contaminated with dioxin and other toxic chemicals contained in the defoliant. Dioxin levels in some people’s bloodstreams are also high, according […]

  • Can the new PAC on the block unseat Bush in ’04?

    With a substantial chunk of money but a minimum of fanfare, environmentalists, labor leaders, feminist organizations, and other left-leaning groups convened last week to launch Americans Coming Together, a new PAC dedicated to defeating President Bush in 2004. The name of the alliance is terrible going on tawdry, but the acronym is apt: If we […]

  • Love It or Leavitt

    Bush Taps Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to Head EPA In a move that immediately (and predictably) generated strenuous objections from enviros, President Bush yesterday nominated three-term Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) to take the helm at the U.S. EPA. Bush praised Leavitt as a consensus-builder and pointed to his bipartisan work with 13 governors and […]

  • Hot Topic

    Heat Wave in Europe Leads to Nuke Plant Worries The withering heat wave in Europe, which is believed to have led to dozens if not hundreds of deaths, is now causing problems at nuclear facilities and other power plants. Government authorities in France and Germany have announced that they are relaxing rules to let plants […]