Latest Articles

Deep Thoughts

Japanese ingenuity may soon bring both potable water and clean energy to a number of periodically parched Pacific island nations, thanks to a new desalination technology that exploits the temperature difference between the ocean’s surface and its depths. The Republic of Palau in the western Pacific has teamed up with Japan’s Saga University to build […]

Petroleum Jelly-legs

U.S. petrochemical plants pose security risks to millions of Americans and could be targets of terrorist attacks, but the government has no idea how secure the plants are from such attacks, according to an audit released last week by the General Accounting Office. The audit found that both U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman and Homeland […]

You Can Hardly Prius Out of ’em

Some stars toned down the glitz at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony in acknowledgement of the war in Iraq, while others toned down their energy consumption, arriving at the event in gas-electric hybrid cars instead of gas-guzzling stretch limos. Actress Cameron Diaz was chauffeured to the Oscars in her own Toyota Prius. “I drive it […]

Down on the Farm

California’s budget crisis could wind up spurring sprawl. With the state tens of billions of dollars in the red, Gov. Gray Davis (D) is hoping to cut the $39 million per year that the state spends on the Williamson Act, which lets farmers pay lower taxes as long as they pledge to keep their land […]

Ready, Aim…

At least three and as many as nine oil wells were burning yesterday in Iraq’s Rumaila oil field, just north of the Kuwait border. News of the fires caused an abrupt spike in global oil prices, but the market settled down after Bush administration officials said the damage appeared to be limited. The Rumaila field […]

Wish Granite

Communities across New Hampshire are invoking the state’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Act to preserve open spaces, even though state funding for land conservation and historic preservation faces extreme pressure from a ballooning budget crisis. Under the terms of the act, New Hampshire matches local conservation funding efforts with state money — an offer […]

Wolfowitz at the Door

As part of the Defense Department’s ongoing effort to exempt the U.S. military from environmental regulations, the Pentagon’s Paul Wolfowitz has called on military service heads to provide examples of situations in which President Bush should invoke national security to trump eco-protections by fiat. In a memo to the chiefs of the Armed Forces, Wolfowitz, […]

Fish and Cheeps

Never mind doctors and drug dealers — there’s a new clientele for beepers: dolphins. If some lawmakers in the U.K. get their way, British fishing fleets will soon be required to use high-tech equipment resembling beepers to keep dolphins, porpoises, and other cetaceans out of fishing nets. Known as “pingers,” the devices emit random ultrasonic […]

Trout Fishing in America

Environmental groups sued the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Department this week to prevent the springtime release of more than 5 million hatchery-born salmon in the Puget Sound area. The groups, Washington Trout and the Native Fish Society, pointed to recent studies showing that hatchery fish are harming their wild-born brethren by out-competing them for […]

And other words from readers

  Re: Oakless Creek Canyon Dear Editor: The Flagstaff, Ariz., project to protect expensive homes by removing possible (natural) fire hazards sounds to me like building on a floodplain. The folks who bought the homes can sell them if they don’t want the expense of insuring the risk. The nation should not sacrifice its natural […]