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Catch a Taiga By the Toe

No one needs to tell the Amur tiger that species worldwide are endangered. A resident of Russia’s far-eastern taiga forests, the tigers are severely threatened by insatiable and generally illegal logging in the region. In theory, Russia has some of the world’s strictest logging laws, but the taiga’s old-growth trees (such as Manchurian oak and […]

The Shipping News

Salmon and other imperiled species would not be damaged by a proposed deepening of the Columbia River channel, federal scientists announced yesterday. Those findings — biological opinions required under the Endangered Species Act — will enable the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with the next steps in a $196 million project to deepen […]

Mammal-mia!

Nearly 25 percent of the world’s mammals — more than 1,000 species in total — are in danger of going extinct within 30 years, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme on the state of the global environment. In total, the report identifies more than 11,000 endangered species, including one in eight […]

Yosemite Slam

As the fifth highest waterfall on the planet, Yosemite Falls is one of the world’s most photographed natural wonders — and the area around it is one of the most heavily tromped, trampled, and otherwise degraded. The falls attract about 3 million visitors per year, which has lead to despoiled trails, jam-packed parking lots, and […]

The environmental movement calls it a day

Surprising both longtime allies and adversaries, the environmental movement announced yesterday that it was sick of nature’s indifference to its work, and would be wrapping things up Friday. “We’re not mad, we’re just … moving on,” a movement spokesperson said. “We’re going to buy some nice clothes and go spend a few months in the […]

Whalie Meatie — What a Treaty!

In other whale news, the Makah nation in northwestern Washington won another affirmation of its treaty rights late last week, when a U.S. district judge rejected efforts by animal rights activists to suspend Makah whaling until a lawsuit on the issue is resolved. The Makah are the only native people in the Lower 48 to […]

Great White-meat Whale

The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission began today in Japan, with the host nation calling for an end to a 16-year ban on commercial whaling. Japanese Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe urged IWC member nations to regard whales “in the same light as other living marine resources”– that is, edible. Japan argues […]

Harry Rhodes, Growing Home

Harry Rhodes is executive director of Growing Home, a Chicago-based organization whose mission is to provide job training and employment opportunities in organic agriculture for homeless and low-income people. Monday, 20 May 2002 CHICAGO, Ill. It’s Monday morning and there’s a lot to get organized. As the only full-time employee of Growing Home, I coordinate […]

Bass Ackwards

It’s Marine News Day here at Grist Magazine and therefore our duty to report that more than 90 restaurants in Los Angeles and Orange counties in Southern California will pledge Tuesday to pull Chilean sea bass from their menus in an effort to save the fish from overfishing and possible extinction. The Chilean sea bass […]

There’s the Right Way and the Army Way

Less than three weeks after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspended some 150 projects nationwide due to concerns about the accuracy of their economic analyses, the agency announced Friday that it had reviewed all those projects and given the green light for 118 of them to proceed. The speed with which the reviews were […]