Latest Articles

Right Turnabout

The outlook is grim for the Northern right whale, one of the most endangered animals in the world, but simple measures could bring the species back from the brink of extinction, according to a report released today. The authors of the report, scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, concluded that if just […]

Plane Sailing

Taking a cue from automakers, the industry giant Boeing is looking into replacing auxiliary engines on its planes with cleaner, quieter, and more efficient fuel cells. Fuel cells, which combine hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity, are already being tested extensively in cars, and all the major automakers plan to produce pilot fuel-cell models in […]

Not Just Intel Inside

Aging computers are fast becoming one of the nation’s thorniest waste management problems, but U.S high-tech companies are lagging behind on recycling efforts. A report issued Monday by the Computer Take Back Coalition gave high environmental marks to Japanese companies such as Canon, Sony, Fujitsu, and Toshiba for recycling old machines, limiting use of hazardous […]

The Ends of the Earth Summit?

The aftershocks of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States are reaching halfway around the world, rendering uncertain the planning and financing for the World Summit On Sustainable Development, to be held next year in South Africa. The event, which is organized by the United Nations and is better known as the Earth […]

Sting Like a Butterfly

Every year, millions of migrating Monarch butterflies make their way from Canada to central Mexico, where they reproduce and overwinter in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. Trouble is, 60 percent of that reserve has disappeared in the last few decades due to logging. Now Mexican officials say they are getting serious about protecting the reserve, […]

Throwing Their Wait Around

Senate Democrats announced yesterday that they would not consider new energy legislation until next year, angering Republicans who had hoped to quickly finalize a plan favored by the Bush administration. The Bush plan, which would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and provide about $30 billion in tax breaks and subsidies to the […]

Phnom Penh Pals

More than 300 officials and activists are gathering today in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to establish the Asian agenda for next year’s World Summit on Sustainable Development, which will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Asia is a critical testing ground for sustainability, because it is home to half the world’s population and is plagued by […]

Generation Icks

The Bush administration’s energy plan, which calls for the creation of 2,000 new generating plants in the next six years, would substantially increase the greenhouse gas emissions that spur global warming, according to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The commission, which monitors the effects of NAFTA on the environment, said carbon dioxide emissions from electricity […]

Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Us

Which is the lesser of two evils — malaria or DDT? The former kills a million people per year in Africa, many of them infants and children; the latter is the most effective weapon against the virulent disease, but is lethal to fish and wildlife, and thought to be hazardous to humans as well. Two […]

Speaking Ingest

The Bush administration has promised the pesticide industry that it will overturn a Clinton-era policy that prohibited using information obtained from industry studies on human subjects to determine pesticide limits. Under the new policy, which hasn’t yet been officially announced, the U.S. EPA would be able to set limits based on data from tests in […]