Latest Articles

A Dehli-cate Balance

Delegates from around the world are meeting in New Delhi, India, today for the latest round of international talks on climate change. In part because the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions — the United States — has rejected the Kyoto Protocol, the meeting is focusing on ways to adapt to climate change rather […]

Touching News

A whopping 83 percent of the surface of the Earth is dedicated to human activities — farming, mining, fishing, or just plain old living — according to a report released this week by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network. Human use leaves wildlife with just a fraction […]

Hawaii G-O!

There’s no shortage of sunlight in Hawaii — so why is there a shortage of solar energy? That’s the question Ed Smeloff and David Hochschild would like to answer. The two alternative-energy advocates pioneered the trailblazing $100 million solar bond initiative passed by the city of San Francisco last year; as cofounders of Vote Solar, […]

When the Fish and Chips Are Down

Farmed salmon is coming under fire for the dangers it may pose to human health and the environment. A government study in the U.K. has found that salmon from fish farms is the most contaminated food sold by British supermarkets, beating out all other seafood, as well as meats and vegetables. Every sample of farmed […]

Trade Wins

The market for carbon dioxide emissions credits across the world could more than triple this year as companies prepare for the enactment of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Under Kyoto, companies that reduce CO2 emissions beyond the caps set by their countries can sell credits to firms that do not meet the reduction requirements. […]

You Will Live a GM-free Life … in Bed

Until recently, China seemed to be positioning itself as a world leader in bioengineered foods, spending tens of millions of dollars on new technologies and touting the benefits of genetically modified rice, soybeans, and other crops. Now, though, the nation has imposed tough restrictions on domestic planting of genetically modified (GM) crops and strict labeling […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]