Latest Articles

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Computer Model

Unless you live there, you probably haven’t been following the brouhaha in North Dakota. So here’s the skinny: The U.S. EPA insists that the state is in violation of air quality standards because of the high concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air at the otherwise-pristine Theodore Roosevelt National Park and a national wildlife refuge. […]

Umbra on diesel engines

Dear Umbra, Longtime reader; first-time writer. Love the column. My partner and I recently bought a small station wagon to replace our 4WD pick-up and ’83 sedan. After some debate, we chose a turbo-diesel engine that boasts about 45 miles per gallon instead of a gas engine, which gets about 30 MPG. Our thinking led […]

Umbra on picking the right car

Dear Umbra, In 1981, I bought my first car, a Honda Civic. It was a great car, and despite what certain congressional leaders say about car size and safety, an excellent vehicle for handling winter snow and ice in mountain driving in Steamboat Springs, Colo. The problem is that now, living in Pennsylvania, my husband […]

Umbra on cooling your car

Dear Umbra, Is it more efficient to drive down the highway with my windows down or the air conditioner on? I know the air conditioner decreases gas mileage, but I bet having my windows down at 75 miles per hour produces pretty good drag. Thanks, Sara Dearest Sara, This is July’s Question of the Month […]

You’ve Got Male

Saving endangered species is usually a matter of preserving habitat, fending off threats, and hoping for the best. Now, though, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have found a way to incubate sperm from other animals inside laboratory mice, a process they hope could aid species whose survival is threatened by […]

Burned

In addition to scorching millions of acres of habitat and killing wildlife, the fires that have raged throughout the western U.S. this summer have taken another toll on the environment — a financial one. The federal government expects to spend more than $1.5 billion battling wildfires this year, and millions of those dollars will come […]

Absence Makes Some Hearts Grow Fonder

By all appearance, President Bush will not be attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of the month — much to the delight of his conservative allies. “We applaud your decision not to attend the summit,” read a letter signed by more than 30 conservative […]

Jungle Fever

Vines are the hallmark of any self-respecting jungle — picture Tarzan swinging in from offstage — but the situation is getting a bit out of control in the Amazon rainforest, where vines are growing so quickly they are choking trees and possibly interfering with the ability of forests to soak up greenhouse gases, according to […]

To Summit Up

A global report card issued by the United Nations just two weeks before an international environmental summit has given low marks to the world’s ecological condition. Among the report’s more shocking findings: Three million people die annually from air pollution, while more than 1 billion people — a sixth of the world’s population — lack […]

Curse D’ Alene

In a precedent-setting move, U.S. federal officials signed an agreement yesterday ceding control of the cleanup of Idaho’s highly polluted Coeur d’Alene Basin to state, local, and tribal officials. For more than a century, mining waste from the Silver Valley washed down the Coeur d’Alene River into Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River, and […]