Latest Articles

Altering the market to promote sustainable farming

The Aug. 16 issue of Science magazine features an ominous headline: “Dead Zone Grows.” To the right of the headline is a map of the Gulf of Mexico with an irregular green stripe hugging the shoreline. This is the Dead Zone, an area of the gulf where oxygen levels are so low that most marine […]

The Seeds of Discontent

Despite a teeming black market for genetically modified seeds in Brazil, the country’s leading presidential candidate says he would not lift a four-year ban on biotechnology anytime soon. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers’ Party, who by all appearances was the victor in the first round of elections, held this weekend, opposes […]

The Saints Haven’t Come Marching in

Almost 75 percent of Utah residents object to plans to store tons of nuclear waste at the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation, 50 miles outside of Salt Lake City — so why isn’t the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Utah’s main opinion-setter, taking a stand on the issue? So far, the silence of the […]

Greece Spot

Air and water quality in Athens, Greece — home of the upcoming 2004 Summer Olympics — is considerably worse today than it was in 1896, the last time the city hosted the games. In an effort headlined by Jean-Michael Cousteau (son of the famed oceanographer Jacques), environmentalists are trying to clean up the city by […]

Max Weintraub, Environmental Justice and Health Union

Max Weintraub is the executive director of the Environmental Justice and Health Union and a fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program. Monday, 7 Oct 2002 SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. What the heck was I thinking? Starting a nonprofit when funding is down, focusing on poor and minority communities when I am from neither, trying to bring […]

Gopher It!

Twelve ethanol plants in Minnesota signed on to an unprecedented agreement with state and federal EPA officials earlier this week, agreeing to pay pollution fines and update their emissions-reduction technology. An official at the U.S. EPA said ethanol plants across the country would be expected to follow the lead of the Minnesota plants. A spokesperson […]

Nether Netherland

For those in the know, the Netherlands are all but synonymous with responsible urban planning. From mass transit to mass cycling, from sustainable building to species protections, the country has raised the bar for the rest of the world. Now, though, politics in the Netherlands is shifting precipitously to the right — and many fear […]

Smoky Signals

The superintendent of Yosemite National Park announced yesterday that he would retire rather than accept a transfer to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where he would have been called upon to oversee two controversial projects opposed by environmentalists and others. One project involves building a road across the largest undeveloped wilderness in the eastern U.S. […]

Orange You Glad?

The District Attorney’s office in conservative Orange County, Calif., is beefing up its environmental crime division to become one of the most rigorous eco-SWAT teams in the nation. While resources for pursuing environmental criminals have been dwindling in many other areas in the state, Orange County has tripled its budget in the last three years […]

Threatened sea turtles find allies in Baja

To be an endangered sea turtle near Punta Abreojos on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula is to be a lucky animal. In this remote fishing village, the local fishing cooperative cracks down on any member caught with a turtle. For the first offense, you lose fishing privileges for three months, and must instead don a hairnet and […]