Latest Articles
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Anti-protection Racket
Fourteen of 25 groups of wild West Coast Pacific salmon and steelhead may lose their protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, following the federal government’s formal acceptance yesterday of petitions to de-list the groups. Last year, the National Marine Fisheries Service began evaluating the protected status of 23 of the 25 groups after a […]
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Smoke Scream
The levels of pollutants spewed into the air over New York City following the Sep. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center exceeded even those of burning oil wells during the Gulf War, according to a new study released yesterday by scientists from the University of California at Davis. The study, which was the most […]
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City City Ban Ban
And in related news from the Big Apple: The city’s post-Sep. 11 restrictions on single-occupant vehicles entering Manhattan has led to 190,000 fewer people coming into the city by car every day, according to a study commissioned by business and labor leaders opposed to the ban. The study claims the restrictions could cost the city […]
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Not-so-secret Agent
Four decades after the U.S. started using Agent Orange in Vietnam, the two countries will begin working together to assess the effects of the toxic chemical on human health and the environment. Agent Orange is a defoliant that contains TCDD, the most dangerous form of dioxin, which causes cancer, immune system malfunction, and birth defects. […]
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Winding Down?
What is the world coming to? Denmark, that model of eco-friendliness, announced last week that it would prioritize financial competitiveness over environmental sensitivity — and that, as a result, it would stop subsidizing the installation of new wind turbines beginning in 2004. Economy Minister Bendt Bendtsen said electricity generated by wind turbines was too expensive […]
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An Ocean in Iowa
Forget that image of pretty pastoral farmhouses dotting the rural U.S. landscape: The reality is that farms are responsible for an ever-increasing amount of pollution that poses a significant threat to rivers, the ocean, and wildlife. A recent study by the Pew Oceans Commission found that fertilizer runoff and livestock feedlots were among the fastest […]
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Love Birds?
It’s tough to be a po’ouli as Valentine’s Day approaches. Actually, it’s tough to be a po’ouli on any day. Scientists are doing their darnedest to save the extraordinarily rare Hawaiian honeycreeper from extinction — and right now, that means matchmaking. A team of biologists has outfitted the one known male po’ouli with a tiny […]
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Not Sharky’s Day
The cruel practice of shark-finning — in which the fins are sliced off of living sharks to make soup — has found its way into the heavily protected waters of Egypt’s Red Sea. The discovery of illegal shark-fin fishing in the region has alarmed both environmentalist and tourism operators in the region. Underwater tourism in […]
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Chesa-piqued
Saying that chemical contamination in the city’s water supply led to miscarriages and infant deaths, 25 women have sued Chesapeake, Va., and almost 170 more plan to do so. According to a growing number of studies, the chlorine commonly used to purify drinking water can cause birth defects and miscarriages when it mixes with organic […]
