Latest Articles

Bottlestar Galactica

If Michigan environmentalists get their way, the state will dramatically expand its bottle law to cover 750 million additional beverage containers per year, including juice, water, and tea bottles that currently wind up as litter or in landfills. The state’s 1976 bottle law, which quickly cleaned up roadside litter, is both popular and successful. Every […]

Order in the Court

With a staunchly anti-environmental White House and a Republican-dominated Congress, environmentalists are turning to the third branch of government to fight their cause. Happily, the courts have presented a relatively safe haven for greens, upholding strict clean air standards the Bush administration sought to water down, blocking oil and gas exploration in the West, limiting […]

Liquid Assets

Saudi Arabia is home to the world’s largest oil reserves, but it’s desperately short on another, equally precious resource: water. There isn’t a river or lake to be found anywhere in the nation, and the only renewable water sources are shallow aquifers refilled by infrequent rains. A growing population, a fondness for showy swimming pools […]

Windy Cities

Wind power is usually generated in vast, open spaces — mountaintops, prairies, or offshore in shallow waters. But the Netherlands is taking wind power to new heights, literally: the rooftops of buildings in metropolitan areas. With light, quiet, efficient designs that often blend into the surrounding architecture, these urban windmills are built to take advantage […]

Muck Ado About Something

Russian journalist and environmental muckraker Grigory Pasko was paroled from prison yesterday after serving part of a highly contested term for treason. Pasko became the poster-child for concerns about Russian limitations on press freedoms when he was convicted for taking notes during a 1997 meeting of Russian naval commanders. The court claimed that Pasko had […]

Lead Us Not

Ninety percent of the global gasoline supply is unleaded — but the majority of the remaining 10 percent is consumed in developing nations. That’s bad news for citizens of those countries because leaded fuel is associated with neurological damage, particularly in children. Now, though, there’s some good news from the United Nations Environment Programme: Most […]

Ready, Aim, Fire

The Bush administration, U.S. troops, and Iraqi citizens aren’t the only people preparing for war: Employees of American companies that specialize in extinguishing fires from oil wells are also readying themselves for what’s to come. Iraq’s economy, Middle Eastern political stability, and U.S. interests all dictate that the oil industry cannot be a casualty of […]

Murky Outcome

Environmentalists did constant battle with Frank Murkowski when he was a U.S. senator — and, if last night’s “State of the State” address was any indication, they will have to redouble their efforts now that he is the new Republican governor of Alaska. During the speech, Murkowski said he would push for more road development, […]

The Fish-scales of Justice

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer is suing five major grocery store chains to force them to warn customers that tuna, swordfish, and shark may contain dangerously high levels of mercury. In the suit, Lockyer claims that Safeway, Kroger, Albertson’s, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods are violating Proposition 65, which requires companies to provide “clear and […]

Hit Below the Belt

The heavily industrial Midwest has long been afflicted with some of the worst air and water pollution in the country — but now that distinction has been handed off to the Sun Belt, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The report tracked toxic releases from large industrial plants […]