Latest Articles

Clean Your Boom

The global economy may be sagging, but residents of the Pacific Northwest should take heart: A study released late last week suggests that the region will benefit from a boom in the next 20 years in the clean energy industry. In Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, clean energy is currently a $1.4 billion business; the […]

Sin-erama

Hill and Dale

U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth upheld a Clinton-era plan on Friday that would increase protection for much of California’s Sierra Nevada, although he also called for a review of how the plan would affect fire control in the area and whether it would conflict with a congressionally approved management scheme. The plan, which was […]

Grain and Bear It

New policies emerging in China could bode well for that poster child of protection efforts, the panda. In an article published last week in the journal Science, scientists from the World Wildlife Fund and Beijing University praised China’s National Forest Conservation Program and its “Grain-to-Green” policy as likely to preserve habitat crucial to panda survival. […]

Mulholland Drive, Bye

Almost 90 years too late, Los Angeles is finally making partial amends for one of the most infamous acts of water theft in history: the diversion of the Owens River to supply water to the then-infant city. The diversion caused the 110-square-mile Owens Lake to dry up, leading to dramatic and sometimes deadly dust storms […]

Threats to Mexican environmentalists continue

Two political associates of peasant environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera have narrowly survived an apparent assassination attempt, raising grave questions about Montiel and Cabrera’s own safety following their Nov. 8 release from jail by Mexican President Vicente Fox. Rodolfo Montiel. Felipe Arriga, the secretary general of the Ecologist Organization of the Mountain of Petatlan […]

Day of Antiquity

A federal judge yesterday upheld former President Clinton’s designation of six national monuments in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, dashing the hopes of the Denver-based Mountain States Legal Defense Fund. The conservative group challenged the constitutionality of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the power to designate monuments, and argued that Clinton had […]

SUV in the Ditch

Ford has ditched plans to use a form of gas-electric hybrid technology to significantly improve the fuel-efficiency of the Explorer, the world’s best-selling SUV. Ford insiders said the decision was made because of a cash shortage and less success than expected with the “integrated starter-generator” technology, which would have saved gas when the vehicle was […]

A Mess In-a Messina

Italy has declared states of environmental emergency in Venice, Milan, and Messina. Venice is beset with water pollution caused by boat traffic in its canals, while road traffic in the other two cities is producing too much air pollution. The country’s parliament may now appoint local commissioners to impose tough new anti-pollution measures, such as […]

Back in Black

Thirty-one black-footed ferrets were released into the wild in Colorado yesterday, 58 years after the animal was last sighted in the state. The release near Rangley, Colo., was the ninth on the continent since the U.S. began a captive-breeding program to save the species 14 years ago; the animals have also been set loose in […]