Latest Articles
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And other words from readers
Re: Mobil-ized Dear Editor: Sometimes being anal pays off. I’ve been using Quicken since 1996 to track all my expenses, and I see here that I’ve spent $6,178.56 on gasoline over the past seven years. Of that total, $1,339.41 went to Mobil, $747.09 went to Exxon, and the rest to BP, Shell, and assorted […]
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Turning Over a New Reef
Here’s some cheery news to lighten all the grim findings about the bleaching of much of the Great Barrier Reef: Australian scientists have stumbled onto a new reef off the coast of Queensland. At 46 square miles, the reef can’t hold a candle to its 133,200 square-mile big brother, but it’s still bigger than, for […]
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Hal Clifford reviews Cruise Ship Blues by Ross Klein
For all intents and purposes, during the summer, it is the 45,000 people found on the dozens of cruise ships that ply that state's southeastern coastal waters. And the effects of that "city" on the natural environment are indeed urban, in the worst imaginable ways.
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Environmental What Agency?
Rumors are heating up about who will fill the shoes of U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, who announced her resignation last month and will step down June 27. Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R) and Tom Skinner, the EPA’s Midwest regional administrator, seem to have risen above two earlier possibilities — Deputy EPA Administrator Linda Fisher […]
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Tapped Out
Drinking bottled water isn’t necessarily a good thing for your health or for the environment, since the plastic bottles take up space in landfills and their contents are not subject to strict regulations. But how safe is the tap water you drink? Getting better, but still not as good as it should be, according to […]
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Home Is Where the Smart Is
Canada’s efforts to meet the terms of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions could have a positive outcome for homeowners: Under a plan approved by a federal cabinet committee this week, Canadians who take steps to make their homes more energy efficient could get an average rebate of about $740. […]
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Reader responses on family cars, the internal combustion engine, and more
Dearest Readers, How I enjoy your letters! I’m sorry I’m unable to answer them all; lest you fear that they vanish into the void, I assure you they do not. I read each and every one of them down here in Stacklandia. I must in particular thank those of you who write in to correct, […]
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When Irish Eyes Are Smiting
Meanwhile, in nuclear news from elsewhere on the globe, Ireland has gone to international court in The Hague to try to shut down Britain’s Sellafield nuclear power plant. The Irish, who have been fighting the plant for decades, claim that it violates the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea by polluting the Irish […]
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Greens Pan Greenspan
The Bush administration and Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan are expressing increasing concerns about dwindling natural gas supplies, a move that environmentalists see as a ploy to drum up support for nuclear energy and drilling on public lands. The concern over natural gas comes as Congress debates a comprehensive energy bill that could include provisions […]
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Invasion of the Habitat Snatchers
Roads have long been considered the enemy of the environment, creating (literal) avenues for deforestation and development. Now, it seems, they are also to blame for another major environmental woe: invasive species. According to a pair of recent studies conducted at the University of California at Davis, new roads are one of the quickest ways […]
