Latest Articles

Seedy

Members of Brazil’s Landless Peasant Movement occupied a test farm owned by biotechnology giant Monsanto last week, in a bid to expel the company and establish an organic farm on the site instead. The protestors say neither the people nor the government of the Brazilian state of Parana support genetically modified (GM) crops, such as […]

Sadder Day in the Park

Summer is just around the bend, and with it, people all over the country will begin their annual pilgrimages to U.S national parks. Unfortunately, the parks aren’t ready for them: They are underfunded, over-crowded, and in disrepair. The National Park Service budget has declined almost 20 percent in the last 25 years, while the park […]

Money for Nothing and Your Trees for Free

As many as one in 10 trees removed from national forests in the U.S. is cut down illegally, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The problem plagues the entire nation, from the Adirondacks to the Olympics, and is not restricted to public forests: Tree theft is also common on land owned by lumber companies and […]

Growl

Along with whales and pandas, grizzly bears are among the most famous and most beloved poster children of the environmental movement. But that hasn’t deterred the Bush administration from consistently making land-use decisions that environmental activists say threaten the animals. The administration’s actions — most notably, the halting of a hard-won, Clinton-era plan to reintroduce […]

Green Washing?

With eco-friendly marketing all the rage, companies are increasingly exploiting the term “organic” to sell their products — regardless of how good those products are for consumers or for the environment. That’s especially true when it comes to soaps, shampoos, conditioners, scrubs, lotions and the like, whose labeling practices (unlike those of food products) aren’t […]

40 Acres and a Tax Break

California environmentalists and farmers rejoiced yesterday when Gov. Gray Davis (D) restored $40 million in funding for farmland and open-space protection under the Williamson Act. Together, farmers and enviros had lobbied heavily against the proposed elimination of the act, under which the state pays back counties for property taxes lost when landowners are given lower […]

A Loophole in the Ozone

Ending a six-year battle, the U.S. EPA reintroduced proposals yesterday for new standards to combat ozone, which causes smog. At issue in the battle was whether the ozone-pollution controls outlined by Congress in the 1990 Clean Air Act should apply to moderately polluted metropolitan areas. The act divided polluted areas into categories ranging from mild […]

Kohe Malama Malama O Kanaloa (We Just Like Typing That)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reduce the number of acres designated as critical habitat in Maui, Hawaii, by about 25 percent compared to last year, leaving some 93,200 acres protected for 59 threatened and endangered species. In nearby Kaho’olawe, the agency will reduce critical habitat designations by 85 percent, to just 3,000 acres, […]

Their Dumpsters Runneth Over

They’re talking trash in Naples, Italy — literally. For the past week, the city and its suburbs have been overwhelmed by garbage, which is oozing from dumpsters, blowing down sidewalks, causing school closures, blocking traffic, and dominating local conversation as residents and city officials alike wonder what to do about it. Although a solution is […]

Umbra on green reasons to quit smoking

Dear Umbra, I want to quit smoking. As if the risks to my health weren’t enough, could you help out by twisting that knife of guilt into my tree-hugging heart and give me some environmental reasons to stop supporting the tobacco industry? Cough, wheeze, ElaineSaint John, New Brunswick, Canada Dearest Elaine, I don’t care whether […]