Latest Articles
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San Choakin’ Valley
A coalition of environmental organizations is suing the U.S. EPA today for failing to clean up the air in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Blackened by dust, smoke, and other pollutants, the region’s air is some of the nation’s worst — but neither the state nor federal government has come up with a workable plan to […]
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Na’Taki Osborne, National Wildlife Federation
Na’Taki Osborne is the national leadership development coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation. She is also a fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program and cofounder of the Center for Environmental Public Awareness, a consulting organization that supports community groups working to achieve environmental justice. Monday, 21 Oct 2002 ATLANTA, Ga. “I woke up this morning […]
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Jonna Higgins-Freese reviews The Farm as Natural Habitat by Dana and Laura Jackson
You'll have to forgive the staid title: Right from the start, The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems is thoroughly Midwestern in tone -- reserved, practical, and down-to-earth. Edited by long-time sustainable-agriculture advocates Dana and Laura Jackson, a mother-daughter team, the essays collected here describe farming practices that mimic and protect natural systems. But if the voice is mild, the message is urgent: Environmentalists must build ties with farmers if we are to grow food without destroying topsoil, poisoning our air and water, and killing wildlife.
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Great Lakes Minds Think Alike
The U.S. government has pledged to spend billions of dollars to restore the Florida Everglades — and now the Great Lakes states are trying to figure out how they can get a piece of the federal pie, too. For more than a year, the governors of the eight states have been meeting to formulate a […]
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Staircase Closed
Former President Clinton acted within his authority when he created new national monuments during his final year in office, a federal court ruled Friday. The ruling was a victory for environmentalists and a blow for property-rights advocates and others who had challenged seven of the 15 monument designations in court. The Circuit Court of Appeals […]
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Security: Blank It
In the name of keeping sensitive information out of the hands of terrorists, the Bush administration has restricted access to a broad range of scientific research — removing Internet links, deleting information from websites, and even requiring federal librarians to destroy a CD-ROM about public water supplies. The information lockdown is making it tough for […]
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On Guard
An effort to beef up safety at U.S. nuclear power plants by requiring guards to work 12-hour shifts instead of eight may be backfiring: The guards, who have been working the longer shifts since Sept. 11, 2001, report that they are tired, prone to error, and, well, in a bad mood. The long hours have […]
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Massive a Tax
New Zealand has unveiled a carbon tax to help it meet the goals of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which the country expects to ratify by year’s end. The tax, which would be implemented in 2007 assuming Kyoto has come into effect, would boost retail gas prices by up to 6 percent, diesel prices […]
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Give a Hoot
Today is the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act — and although the United States has made some strides in improving water quality, it has still got a long way to go. A whopping 81 percent of major wastewater treatment plants and chemical and industrial facilities in the U.S. contaminated waterways beyond what their […]
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The Slush of Kilimanjaro
The snow-capped peak of Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro is one of the most famous vistas on the African continent. Soon, though, you might not be able to see it in person: The mountain’s 11,000-year-old snow cap shrank by 80 percent in the past century and could be gone within two decades if temperature trends continue, according […]