Latest Articles

The Coast in the Machine

Bush Pushes for Offshore Oil Drilling in Alaska The Bush administration is moving aggressively to open Alaska’s coastal waters to oil exploration — a campaign that is not getting nearly as much public scrutiny as efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The administration plans to offer eight oil and gas lease sales […]

Soilant Green

U.S. Fails to Inspect Farmed Fish Imports for Dangerous Chemicals If the orange foam caused by Canadian aquaculture isn’t enough to scare you away from farmed fish, how about the presence of malachite green, a fabric dye suspected to cause cancer, in Chilean farmed salmon? This year, European countries seized dozens of tons of farmed […]

Foam Call

Canadian Tribes Fight Big Fish Farms in Court Fish farms off Canada’s west coast are under fire from native tribes that claim the big aquaculture operations are devastating the natural environment. Four tribes living in the Broughton Archipelago, off the coast of British Columbia north of Vancouver Island, are going to court to curb the […]

Holey Cow

Ozone Hole Approaches Record Size The ozone hole over Antarctica, which shrinks and expands with the seasons, is now larger than it’s ever been at this time of year — nearly 11 million square miles — and within the next few weeks it could set an all-time record for size, a leading scientist is warning. […]

Readers sound off on Bushisms, organic weed control, and more

  Re: Vehicular Geocide Dear Editor: The Bush administration declared that the EPA would not be regulating carbon dioxide emissions because he decided that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. How could his genius have escaped me for so long? What a masterstroke! In one sentence, he solved the problem of carbon dioxide pollution. I […]

Cheney Reaction

Appeals Court Rejects Bush Attempt to Withhold Energy Documents A federal appeals court yesterday rejected the Bush administration’s argument that it should not have to release documents related to Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force, marking the fourth — yes, fourth — time the judiciary has told the White House the information must be […]

Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

U.S. Companies More Mindful of Social Concerns Activists, take heart: It seems that the relentless pressure of boycotts, lawsuits, bad PR, and slow but steady cultural change is having an effect on corporate America. Companies doing business in the 21st century are beginning to listen to the social, health, and environmental concerns of their customers, […]

Weather Screen

U.K. Calls on PC Users to Help With Global Climate Experiment Concerned about the world’s climate and wondering how you can help improve scientific understanding of it? Wonder no more. If you own a PC, you can become part of what’s being billed as the world’s largest climate-prediction experiment. Organized by a coalition of British […]

My Old Kentucky Sewage

Kentucky Sewage System Worst in Nation Poor Kentucky. Not only does the state often find itself near the bottom of national rankings on education and income; now, it’s dead last in plumbing. Fully 40 percent of Kentucky homes are not connected to sewage treatment plants, instead relying on failing septic tanks or “straight pipes” that […]

A new GMO treaty is about to get tangled up in trade tussles

All but eclipsed by the somber anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety will become international law today with little fanfare. Nonetheless, its entry into force could mark the beginning of a new era in international trade — with potentially sweeping consequences for the environment. Fields of grain […]