Latest Articles

Pay Dirt

The “polluter pays” principle may be languishing in the U.S. under the business-friendly Bush administration, but it’s alive and well in Europe, where the European parliament voted this week to strengthen rules to make companies pay for the environmental problems they cause. Spurred on by the recent Prestige disaster, in which a tanker spilled tens […]

William Shutkin reviews Bronx Ecology and Tilting at Mills

These are tough times for environmentalists, what with the Bush administration’s frontal assault on environmental policy, drastic funding cuts and layoffs in state environmental programs, and the aftermath of a war in Iraq fought, in the opinion of many, over our nation’s undying addiction to oil. It’s thus fitting, if somewhat disheartening, that along come […]

Ban Rollover

Starting up what’s likely to be an ugly trade tussle, the Bush administration yesterday filed suit at the World Trade Organization against the European Union, challenging E.U. policies that severely restrict the import of genetically modified (GM) crops. U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick contends that the E.U. has in effect instituted a ban on GM […]

The Food Less Traveled

A fledgling “buy local” movement is inspiring a growing number of Americans to get more of their food from local sources and resist an increasingly globalized agriculture industry. Today produce travels an average of 1,500 to 2,500 miles to reach Americans’ plates, 25 percent farther than in 1980. Grapes, for example, make an average trek […]

To What Porpoise?

Numerous species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises are dwindling and could go extinct within the next decade, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) warns in a report released today. Take the baiji, a freshwater dolphin found only in China’s Yangtze River: Surveys taken in 1985 and 1986 estimated the total population of the species to be […]

Beehive State Stung

Outdoor recreation retailers are threatening to pull two trade shows out of Utah because they don’t like Gov. Mike Leavitt’s (R) efforts to curtail wilderness designations in the state. With $24 million in trade-show-generated revenue at stake, a worried Leavitt has agreed to meet with outdoor industry leaders to discuss the matter. “The governor is […]

I Used to Have a V-8

General Motors — last year dubbed “Global Warmer Number One” by Environmental Defense — is taking small steps to clean up its vehicle fleet, not to mention its image. The company has announced that it will add new gas-saving technology to most of its SUVs and pickup trucks by 2008, beginning with three SUV models […]

Republicans for Environmental Protection need not be an oxymoron

In the seven years since I cofounded Republicans for Environmental Protection, officially known as REP America, I have answered two questions more often than any others: “Isn’t Republicans for Environmental Protection an oxymoron?” And, “If you care so much about conservation and environmental protection, why don’t you become a Democrat?” The first one is easy […]

Sonic Doom

At least half a dozen dead porpoises have washed up on beaches in Washington state and British Columbia in the last week, spurring speculation that they were killed when the USS Shoup, a Navy destroyer, used its high-intensity sonar last Monday as it traveled near the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast. Observers reported […]

A Green and Pleasant Meadowlands

Plans are underway to create a huge urban park in New Jersey that would be 10 times the size of New York City’s Central Park — on land now pocked by old garbage dumps and sewage sites. Unofficially dubbed the Meadowlands Preserve, the new park would encompass 8,400 acres of wetlands and green space, and […]