Latest Articles
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Marrakech Express
It will be a long night for delegates hammering out details of the Kyoto treaty on climate change in Marrakech, Morocco; talks are scheduled to end today but are likely to drag on to midnight or beyond. Although a compromise has been reached by the majority of participating countries, including the European Union and the […]
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Oil and Holy Water Don't Mix
Televangelist Pat Robertson would also like to be an oil mogul, but in this case, the powers that be haven’t been on his side. For three years, Robertson has been trying to reopen a dormant oil refinery in Santa Fe Spring, 16 miles outside of Los Angeles, under the auspices of an oil company he […]
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Ashcroft, Ashcroft, We All Fall Down
A sweeping “wartime reorganization and mobilization” effort announced by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday sounds like bad news for environmental and social justice issues. Ashcroft indicated that the Justice Department will scale back or abandon many of its current responsibilities, which range from civil rights enforcement to prosecuting environmental polluters, in order to step […]
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The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Opportunism Itself
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) blasted the Bush administration last night for using fear of terrorism to drum up support for oil drilling in Alaska and other extraction-based energy policies. Speaking at a dinner in New York for the League of Conservation Voters, the potential 2004 presidential candidate denounced the administration’s maneuverings as “misplaced patriotism” and […]
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Unappealing
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that a $5 billion punitive damage award levied against ExxonMobil for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill is excessive. The decision stunned environmentalists and the roughly 10,000 fishers, Alaska Natives, and others who have been awaiting compensation for more than a decade. When a jury handed down the verdict […]
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A Growing Problem
Global warming could lead to a 30 percent decline in the yield of key crops over the next 100 years, according to a report made by the United Nations Environment Programme during ongoing climate change negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco. The report says rising temperatures damage the growing capacity of critical crops such as wheat, rice, […]
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Borderline Inane
Almost every major community on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border suffers from poor air quality, according to a report due to be released shortly by U.S. and Mexican environmental agencies. The poor air is a byproduct of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which led to the construction of 84 assembly plants on the […]
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Your Days Are Lumbered
The health risks posed by arsenic-treated lumber are much greater than previously thought, according to a study by the Environmental Working Group and other public interest organizations. Health and environmental advocates have long questioned the use of arsenic, a known carcinogen, to render lumber resistant to insects and rot. Nevertheless, arsenic-treated wood is commonly used […]
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Hello, Minke, Pleased to Meat You
Japanese whaling vessels set sail yesterday on a six-month expedition to hunt up to 400 minke whales in the Antarctic. A 1986 ban on commercial whale hunting by the International Whaling Commission does not apply, because Japan claims the goal of the expedition is to gather data on the feeding habits, migration patterns, and lifecycle […]
