Latest Articles
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Paradise Without the Dashboard Light
The word “Zion” means a peaceful paradise — and for the past two years, Zion National Park has lived up to its name. Two summers ago, the famed Utah destination became the first national park in the continental U.S. to ban automobiles during peak visitor season. The resulting changes have been dramatic: fresh air, peace […]
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Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Fears
Despite its foreign-sounding name, the West Nile virus is becoming an undeniably American concern. Eighty-eight new cases were reported in three states last week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that the mosquito-borne virus is here to stay. About one in five people who get the virus develop flu-like symptoms; less […]
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Rubber the Right Way
In other news from the halls of justice, a different federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the U.S. government must foot the bill for cleaning up hazardous waste stemming from a World War II effort to produce synthetic rubber. During the war, most of the natural-rubber exporters were under Japanese control, so demand was high […]
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Shelling Out
The first lawsuit in the U.S. over contamination stemming from the gasoline additive MTBE was settled in California yesterday, when Shell Oil agreed to pay the South Tahoe Public Utility District $28 million to help fund the cleanup of tainted drinking water wells. The district filed the lawsuit in 1998, after MTBE contamination forced the […]
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What’s a Little Nerve Gas Among Wildlife?
It seems like a wilderness paradise, replete with mule deer, bald eagles, and foxes — but Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Arsenal is also a Cold War relic contaminated by years of chemical weapons production. The 27-square-mile patch of land just 10 miles outside of Denver bears the paradoxical dual designation of National Wildlife Refuge and Superfund […]
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Pick Your Poison
In the First World, debate over genetically modified (GM) foods is about differing ideologies; in southern Africa, where famine is deepening its grip, it is about life and death. The U.S. has offered to provide emergency food aid in the form of corn to seven stricken African countries, but some of that corn has been […]
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To Russia, With Empty Tanks
As President Bush weighs the pros and cons of waging war on Iraq, the issue of U.S. oil energy security looms large. And although no one would have believed it 50 years ago, the U.S. is increasingly contemplating Russia as a stable and desirable alternative source of oil. The strategic partnership between the Cold War-era […]
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Lambs to the Slaughter
The wildfires that are raging across the western U.S. this summer aren’t just threatening the trophy homes of billionaires; they are also posing a danger to wildlife. Take bighorn sheep, which were reintroduced to the shores of Washington state’s Lake Chelan after a century’s absence. The sheep were finally gaining a foothold in the area; […]
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Fine, China
California is one of the most environmentally minded states in the U.S.; China is one of the most polluted countries in the world. Now, the two have teamed up to clean up: California scientists and entrepreneurs are working with the Chinese government to combat environmental degradation in its myriad forms. The effort is being led […]
