Latest Articles

Dumb and Hummer

While sales of many big SUVs are dipping, Hummers are rumbling out of showrooms at a rate of 3,000 per month, topping the list of best-selling large luxury SUVs in the U.S., despite a starting price of $50,000. Some buyers say they feel patriotic in a massive Hummer H2, the civilian sibling of the military […]

Low Prestige

More than four months after the Prestige oil tanker sank off the coast of Spain, a new plan is underway for permanently cleaning up what proved to be the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history. About half of the ship’s load of 77,000 tons of fuel oil has already leaked out and devastated the […]

Make ’em Walk the Plank

Speaking of polluting ships, U.S. officials have recently uncovered a rash of illegal sludge dumping at sea, and they say it may only be the tip of the iceberg. A number of ships have been caught releasing tons of oily, toxic sludge that’s produced in their engine rooms, even as captains, crews, and corporate managers […]

Civil Wrongs

In the South, low-income, black citizens are becoming more outspoken and effective as they fight the construction of landfills, polluting factories, and other environmentally hazardous facilities in their communities, and they’re increasingly being joined by neighbors of all colors. “Companies now don’t just bully in,” said Robert Bullard, a sociology professor at Clark Atlanta University […]

And other words from readers

  Re: Little Bundle of Consumption Dear Editor: Thanks go to Umbra for outlining her perspectives on the environmental consequences of childrearing. I agree wholeheartedly and have found myself in both a personal struggle and heated arguments about the topic with friends. I now have one child and plan, though guiltily, to keep it this […]

Brazilian Whacks

In what may be the worst industrial accident in Brazil’s history, a massive chemical spill into two rivers has cut off the supply of clean water to some 600,000 people in three states near Rio de Janeiro. A reservoir at a pulp and paper factory leaked 320 million gallons of caustic soda and chlorine into […]

Well, They Otter

Sea otters should be allowed to frolic freely along the Southern California coastline, according to a new recovery plan drawn up for the threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hailed by enviros, the plan, developed over 14 years, advocates the end of a federal program that relocates otters away from shellfish grounds […]

Something Smells Fishy

The Bush administration is proposing changes to its salmon-protection strategy that critics say would endanger salmon while boosting logging in the Pacific Northwest. As it now stands, federal rules prohibit timber sales and other activities on public lands unless officials can demonstrate that fish would not be harmed. Under revisions proposed this week, officials would […]

The feds are backing nuclear power — in the name of the environment

It’s a long-held tenet of U.S. environmentalists that nuclear power is bad news. Critics argue that the clean-air benefits of nuclear reactors are far outweighed by the consequences of uranium mining and radioactive waste storage — not to mention the damage that could result from an accident at an atomic power station. Now more than […]

Research and Destroy

It’s been a bad news week for whales. First, Iceland announced that it would begin hunting minke, fin, and sei whales again after a 13-year hiatus. The nation says the whaling will be strictly for research purposes, but environmentalists say the plan is a smokescreen for commercial hunts. The World Conservation Union’s Red List ranks […]