Latest Articles

Whatlands?

In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers standard to determine which of the nations’ bodies of water deserve protection, calling it overly broad. But the high court didn’t say what the standard should be, an issue the corps has been struggling to resolve ever since. Now, the dilemma […]

Meet the White House Lexicographer

A travel club provides a greener alternative to AAA

It’s not easy to knock AAA. The venerable organization has 45 million members who count on it for trip insurance, travel advice, and, most of all, emergency services. It’s no wonder that many members have sworn lifetime loyalty to Triple A: Rescuing drivers marooned on dark, lonely highways can do wonders for membership renewal rates. […]

Owl’s Not Well

In a blow to environmentalists, the California spotted owl has been denied protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. According to the U.S. Fish and Wild Service, there is not enough evidence that the owl’s habitat is sufficiently threatened to merit listing — even though the agency acknowledged that a U.S. Forest Service plan to […]

Coal Play

It would seem that preemptive measures are all the rage among anti-environmentalists these days. In Alaska, Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) is awaiting the Interior Department’s response to a request he made last year (while still a senator) to prohibit the establishment of new wilderness areas in the state. “Congress set aside all this wilderness, all […]

Jesse Lichtenstein reviews The People’s Forests by Robert Marshall

At 3:30 in the morning, on July 15, 1932, 31-year-old Bob Marshall started walking. His goal: to see how many peaks in the Adirondack Mountains he could scale in one day. At 1 p.m., he met up with Herb Clark, an old family friend, at the summit of Mount Marcy, the highest mountain in the range. Clark was with a young architect named Paul Schaefer. More than 30 years later, looking back on the encounter, Schaefer could vividly recall his impression that Marshall's eyes "reflected a great joy for living."

Kerrying the Weight of the World

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a presidential hopeful, took a swipe at George W. Bush yesterday by blasting the president’s environmental record. “Almost as soon as this administration took office, they invited in the chief lobbyists to rewrite the very laws that were intended to protect our land, our water, and our air,” charged Kerry. He […]

Antoinette Gomez, Sustainable South Bronx

Antoinette Gomez is an environmental consultant working with Sustainable South Bronx, a grassroots environmental justice organization. She is also a fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program. Monday, 10 Feb 2003 BRONX, N.Y. My day begins in my home office (one benefit of being a consultant) with follow-up calls on two projects. In January I began […]

Gaza Stripped

As if the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians weren’t producing enough problems, the U.N. now says the clash is creating a big environmental mess in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A study conducted by the U.N. Environment Programme over the last five months documented increasing water pollution, loss of natural vegetation, indiscriminate waste dumping, […]

Chutes and Bladders

Kids who romp around on wooden structures in playgrounds could face a higher risk of contracting lung or bladder cancer than those who don’t come into contact with the equipment, the head of the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Friday. Nearly all wooden playground equipment in the U.S. has been treated with the […]