Latest Articles
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Sea, Sea, My Playmate
More than 200 small grocers, restaurants, and seafood distributors in 40 U.S. states have announced that they will not buy, sell, or serve genetically altered fish. Among those joining the biotech boycott are such celebrity chefs as Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Michael Schenk at Oceana in New York City. Whole Foods […]
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Elizabeth Grossman reviews The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin A review of The Hydrogen
In his new book, The Hydrogen Economy, Jeremy Rifkin argues that throughout history, the use of energy has determined the rise and fall of civilizations. In this analysis, a civilization is successful until it begins spending more of its energy supply to maintain its infrastructure than to enhance the lives of its citizens. For example, ancient Rome began to falter when it expanded its domain at the expense of the health and welfare of its people, exploiting slaves, practicing unsustainable agriculture, and exhaustively felling forests for firewood.
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Don’t Send Us the Bill
The Canadian government prorogued its parliamentary session this week, effectively killing a proposed Species At Risk bill. The bill would have banned the harassment, harming, or killing of endangered species on federal land, as well as destruction of critical habitat. The move represented the third time the Parliament has tried and failed to pass legislation […]
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Fee: “Fie,” Foes Fume
Is it a tax or is it not a tax? That’s the question in London, where diplomats are up in arms over a proposed daily fee on cars driving into the city center, in order to discourage congestion and clean up the city’s air. They say the fee most certainly is a tax, and that […]
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Sigh. Gone.
Vietnam is home to one of the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems — but the country’s natural environment has deteriorated rapidly over the last decade, according to a report released today by the World Bank. The report, “Vietnam Environment Monitor 2002,” found that of the nation’s endemic species, 28 percent of mammals, 10 percent of […]
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My Even More Beautiful Laundrette
Last week, California Gov. Gray Davis (D) took on washing machines, signing legislation requiring them to be water-efficient by 2007; now the state’s South Coast Air Quality Management District has taken aim at a related target — dry cleaners. The district, which is responsible for cleaning up the air breathed by about half of all […]
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Jersey, Sure!
In a slap in the face to former New Jersey governor and current U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, New Jersey plans to scrap an air-pollution-control program her administration had touted as a model for the nation. The Open Market Emissions Trading Program allows companies to pollute above permitted levels if they buy credits from other […]
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The Fresh Prince of Bad Air
Just two weeks after their births, infants in the Los Angeles area have been exposed to more pollution than the U.S. government considers acceptable over a lifetime, according to a report released this week by the Washington, D.C.-based National Environmental Trust. The report, which looked at pollution levels in the L.A. region, the San Francisco […]
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Borderline Insane
Two new power plants being built just south of the U.S. border will generate billions of watts of electricity for Californians, a handful of jobs for Mexicans, and plenty of pollution for everyone. The plants, which are the first to be built in Mexico specifically to provide power to the U.S., mark a new era […]
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Natural Born Weed Killers
The cocktail of chemicals found in the most common herbicides used in home lawn care in the U.S. could reduce fertility and cause miscarriages, according to a study published today in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study does not name the brand of weed-killer tested, but the active ingredient — a mix of three phenoxy herbicides […]
