Latest Articles
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From Russia With Sludge
Fifteen percent of Russia is facing disastrous environmental conditions, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday. Putin identified environmental devastation as one of the most serious problems facing the country and affecting the livelihood of its people, and said many areas of the country were in a “critical or near-critical state.” The most industrialized regions of the […]
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Ali Macalady reviews Safe Food by Marion Nestle and The Pleasures of Slow Food by Corby Kummer
In 2001, Eric Schlosser published Fast Food Nation -- an expose of America's increasingly consolidated and industrialized food system, and how that system contributes to a whole range of societal ills, from obesity and resistance to antibiotics to urban sprawl, habitat destruction, and poor labor conditions. The book was a smashing success -- 66 weeks and running on the New York Times bestseller list -- and it captured the nation's attention in a way no book about food has since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the 1906 classic about the Chicago meatpacking industry.
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Don’t Bank on It
A coalition of U.S. and European banks are adopting new principles to guide the financing of projects, especially in the developing world. But environmentalists say the “Equator Principles” will not prevent the banks (which include Citigroup, Holland’s ABN Amro Holding, Britain’s Barclays, and Germany’s WestLB) from backing projects that lead to the destruction of rainforests, […]
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C02, Too?
Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts sued the federal government yesterday to force it to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. The lawsuit, which alleges that the emissions fuel global warming and should therefore be governed by the Clean Air Act, marks the first time a state has sued the government to force it to take action on climate […]
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Come on Baby, Fire My Light
Compact fluorescent light bulbs, those money- and energy-saving improvements on the old-fashioned incandescent variety, are extraordinarily popular in Wisconsin. About 12 percent of all light bulbs sold in the state are CFLs, a figure that trounces the national average of roughly 1 percent. That’s thanks largely to Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy program, which educates homebuilders […]
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Oh, the Humanity
Before they can be put on the market, pesticides are usually tested for safety on animals. Government regulators then establish an exposure level for humans that is 10 times more conservative than the safety level for animals. In an effort to abolish the tenfold safety net, pesticide companies frequently sponsor clinical tests on volunteers to […]
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Tunnel at the End of the Tunnel
A coalition that includes the Sierra Club, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and the Abyssinian Baptist Church is backing a project to build a new tunnel under New York Harbor to reduce truck traffic in the city. The proposed rail freight tunnel would divert almost a million truck-trips per year away from the George Washington […]
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Chop Shop
The environmental policies of the Bush administration are endangering our nation’s woodlands, according to a coalition of environmental groups that yesterday released a list of the 10 most at-risk forests. The coalition, which included Greenpeace and the National Forest Protection Alliance, assessed the risks posed to water quality, endangered species, and old-growth trees. Citing road-building […]
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Jagged Little Pill
Birth control pills aren’t just having an effect on human reproduction: They’re dramatically reducing the fertility of male rainbow trout as well, according to a study by scientists in Washington state. In the study, adult captive trout were exposed to synthetic estrogen for two months, then spawned with a healthy female. Synthetic estrogen, which is […]
