Latest Articles

Say It Ain’t Soy

Brazil Will Allow Planting of GM Soybeans In a big blow to opponents of biotechnology, Brazil announced last week that it will allow farmers to plant genetically modified soybeans, ending its role as one of the leading nations opposed to GM crops. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government had previously promised to oppose […]

Watching Their Waste

California Passes Cutting-Edge E-Waste Law Consistent with its habit of pushing the environmental envelope, California has adopted the nation’s most comprehensive law governing the manufacture and disposal of electronics. The law has three main purposes: to speed the recycling of discarded computers and televisions (some 6 million of which await disposal across the state); to […]

Enemy Mine I

Landmines Hamper Progress of International Park in Africa If you thought trying to get snowmobiles out of national parks was hard, try landmines. Zimbabwe’s portion of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, an international wilderness that stretches into South Africa and Mozambique, is littered with landmines from the nation’s liberation wars in the 1970s. Getting rid […]

Enemy Mine II

Malaysian Mining Industry Is Getting a Second Wind Twenty years after a glut in the global tin market sent the Malaysia mining industry into a freefall, the country’s miners are lobbying for a second chance — this time, with coal. Recently, prospectors in Malaysia found nearly 237 million tons of new coal reserves. That’s good […]

MTBE Promises

Energy Bill Likely to Include Liability Protections for MTBE Makers The makers of a gasoline additive that can contaminate groundwater will almost certainly be protected from liability issues under the terms of the nation’s energy bill, negotiators of the legislation announced yesterday. Methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, has been added to gasoline since the […]

Umbra on dishwashers

Dear Umbra, I’m in the market for a new dishwasher, one that uses as little water and energy as possible and still gets that flatware sparklin’ clean. But I don’t have a lot of dough to blow on appliances. Any thoughts? DeanOrem, Utah Dearest Dean, I really can’t say enough about Consumer Reports and its […]

Readers sound off on our back-to-school advice, political proclivities, and more

  Re: Of Classrooms and Closets Dear Editor: Thank you for the feature on earth-friendly, back-to-school clothes and school supplies. While the information is greatly appreciated, however, your timing stinks. My kids, as with most others around the country, have been back at school for nearly a month now, with new tennis shoes and backpacks […]

Umbra on deer hunting

Dear Umbra, My husband kills deer every fall for the “sport” of it. I’m completely disgusted with him and we have bitter arguments. His justification for killing deer is that they will starve over the cold winter and that he is thinning the population so more will survive. My argument is that nature will do […]

Umbra on eco-friendly birth control

Dear Umbra, I am wondering about the most environmentally safe form of birth control. From what I understand, women’s birth control pills put terrible amounts of hormones into the world’s waters and cause genetic mutations in fish. On the other hand, constantly using and discarding plastic condoms, including the packaging these come in, does not […]

Knights Who Say “NEPA”

White House Task Force Proposes Alterations to NEPA One of the nation’s most important environmental laws could be fundamentally altered, if suggestions from a White House task force are implemented. A panel of the Council on Environmental Quality yesterday proposed dozens of changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, a 1970 law that requires all […]