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Sour Home Alabama

Budget Cuts Could Mean Lax Enforcement at Alabama’s Landfills Proposed budget cuts to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management could spell the end of virtually all landfill and medical-waste facility inspections, state officials say. The state plans to cut $1.3 million of the $5 million it normally contributes to the department’s budget; the remainder of […]

Sake It to ’em

Tokyo High Court Hears Long-Running Pollution Case In the latest development in a seven-year court case, the Tokyo High Court yesterday began hearing a lawsuit that accuses the Japanese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Metropolitan Expressway Public Corporation, and several diesel-vehicle manufacturers of endangering the health of the city’s citizens by failing to stem […]

City of Light Traffic

Paris, Edinburgh Contemplate London-Style Traffic Fees Thousands of miles from Tokyo, France and Scotland are trying to figure out what to do about their own traffic-induced pollution problems. The French government is considering instituting a toll for vehicles entering Paris, which is suffering from severe pollution as a result of heavy traffic combined with consistently […]

Fish and Foul

PCB-Laced Salmon Pollute Alaskan Lakes Pollution is turning up in some of Alaska’s remotest and most pristine lakes, and the problem isn’t secret shore-side industries — it’s salmon. According to research published in this week’s edition of Nature, sockeye salmon pick up PCBs in the northern Pacific Ocean, then head to Alaska to spawn and […]

The real dimensions of $87 billion

Add enough zeros to the end of any number — say, 87 — and it quickly becomes an abstraction. I can imagine 87 years (my grandmother’s age), or 87 miles (about the distance from my home in Brooklyn to outer Long Island), or $87 (which wouldn’t go far out there in the hoity-toity Hamptons). But […]

Squeaky Green

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Make Inroads into the Mainstream It’s hard to get excited about housecleaning, but Monica Nassif has found a way. In fact, as the president of two separate companies that manufacture eco-friendly cleaning products, Nassif was one of the most enthusiastic participants in the 19th annual Natural Products Expo East, held this month […]

Taking Leaves of Our Senses

U.S. Cities Lose 20 Percent of Trees Urban sprawl and highway construction have gobbled up greenery at a startling rate, leaving U.S. cities with 20 percent fewer trees than they had just 10 years ago, according to the environmental group American Forests. In a study released as part of the annual National Urban Forest conference, […]

Durban Renewal

World Parks Congress Closes with Signing of Durban Accord The 10-day World Parks Congress closed yesterday in Durban, South Africa, with the signing of the eponymous Durban Accord. The accord is not legally binding for its 154 signatories, but it is still considered a tool to “promote, guide, and influence positive action for protected areas […]

Michelle Nijhuis reviews Entering the Stone by Barbara Hurd

On the fourth of July this year, I went underground -- under the Chihuahuan Desert, that is, and into the famous Carlsbad Caverns. Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico has been hosting tourists for the better part of a century, so it's got a lot of experience with showing itself off. The fabulous limestone decorations are subtly lit (a Hollywood lighting expert helped out with the placement of the bulbs), the paths are paved and protected by handrails, and large-capacity elevators whisk you up to the daylight.

Bush pushes his Clear Skies plan — and his electoral prospects — at a notoriously dirty power plan

Bush talks to the masses in Michigan. Photo: White House. When President Bush set out on Monday to defend his recent New Source Review rollback and promote his energy bill and Clear Skies program, it was hard not to notice the peculiar setting he chose. Wearing a hardhat and safety glasses, the commander in chief […]