Latest Articles

Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire

Horrendous wildfires in Indonesia five years ago accounted for a whopping 13 to 40 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions that year, according to new research published by European and Indonesian scientists in the journal Nature. The fires were probably ignited by timber companies and farmers trying to clear the drought-parched land; ultimately, the […]

Trump Card

The U.S. wants the European Union to stop trying to weigh down trade rules with environmental considerations. (Silly Europeans, what were they thinking?) In a face-off at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City earlier this week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and E.U. Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy argued about how international environmental […]

I’m a Loser, Baby

The environment stands to be a big loser now that Republicans have recaptured control of the U.S. Senate and expanded their lead in the U.S. House. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) — who had a zero percent score (that’s right, a goose egg) from the League of Conservation Voters in the last session of Congress — […]

A new language is needed to win the day for native species

This cold morning at the Presidio, elegant terns wheel over the lagoon at the edge of the San Francisco Bay, screeching like a fleet of squeaky bicycles. In the distance, fog blots out the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. On the strip of beach closest to the water, dogs chase tennis balls into the […]

Up a Creek

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is quietly considering a proposal that would greatly increase the amount of cancer-causing effluent that could be dumped into streams. Randy Sovic, of the DEP’s Division of Water Resources, said the proposal would give his agency more “flexibility” in writing water-pollution permits. Currently, pollution rates in West Virginia […]

At Sea

Fishers in the Northeast grudgingly celebrated a victory yesterday when federal regulators and environmental groups agreed to put a nine-month freeze on new regulations that will dramatically limit fishing when enacted. The National Marine Fisheries Service has been hearing it from all sides — fishers have argued that any tougher rules will devastate their industry, […]

Leaf Me Alone

At international talks underway on protecting endangered species, the Bush administration has announced that it is “neutral” and “undecided” in the debate over whether to restrict trade in big-leaf mahogany from Latin America. The U.S. position since the time of George Bush the Elder had been to call for stricter limits on trade in the […]

Turning the Tide

The world’s most northerly town, will soon be the first to take advantage of ocean tides to create electricity with a sub-sea power station. Similar tidal projects are also underway in Australia and Britain, but none has begun selling power. Later this month or early in December, tidal currents on the seabed near Kvalsund, at […]

Teach a Man to Fish and He’ll Poison His Brain

Fish fanatics watch out! Affluent people eating lots of fish for health reasons may be loading up on mercury as well as omega-3 and other special oils, according to a study published in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives. Jane Hightower, a doctor at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, conducted the […]

Tally Ho!

Prodded by donors, the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and other groups are working to create accounting standards (both financial and biological) to measure the success of conservation projects. “There’s no industry standard, no Dow Jones,” said M. A. Sanjayan, a scientist who is leading the conservancy effort. Some $120 billion is spent each year […]