Latest Articles
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Hot Rods
As U.S. officials scramble to improve security at the nation’s 103 operating nuclear power plants, a new safety concern has emerged: stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel rods. Many authorities believe that an attack on the fuel — which has been removed from reactors but is still radioactive — could be even more disastrous than an […]
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Excuse Me, Can You Tell Me Where the Life Is?
“A New Map of Life on Earth,” a new project of the World Wildlife Fund, charts the natural world in unprecedented detail and may help environmentalists figure out where to best direct their efforts. The project, which took eight years and the labor of more than 1,000 people to complete, divides the Earth into 867 […]
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Thought for Food
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has approved a precedent-setting, legally binding framework for protecting the genetic diversity of the world’s crops. The deal reached over the weekend marks the culmination of years of difficult negotiations between poor countries and environmentalists on the one hand, and developed nations and multinational corporations on the other. Under […]
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Jason Anderson and Rob Bradley, Climate Network Europe
Jason Anderson and Rob Bradley are energy specialists at Climate Network Europe in Brussels. CNE is the European node of the Climate Action Network, which unites nongovernmental organizations working on domestic and international climate change issues. Monday, 5 Nov 2001 MARRAKECH, Morocco Jason Anderson After a week at the 7th Conference of Parties to the […]
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Insurance Adjustment
Insurance companies have joined the babel weighing in on climate change during negotiations being held in Marrakech, Morocco, this week and next. Speaking to conference delegates yesterday, some of the world’s largest insurers and banks warned that global climate change would cause drastic increases in weather-related disasters like hurricanes and floods. Since the 1960s, insurance […]
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Another Bombshell
The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Muhammad el-Baradei, warned yesterday that the events of Sept. 11 have increased concerns that terrorists might try to fashion nuclear weapons or launch attacks directly against nuclear facilities. El-Baradei’s remarks came one day after the U.S. restricted airspace around all nuclear power plants due to security concerns, […]
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Grateful Lakes
In a move that pleased environmentalists but irked industry, the U.S. Congress voted yesterday to ban new oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes for two years. The measure, which was part of a $24.6 billion federal energy and water bill, was passed overwhelmingly in both chambers despite President Bush’s recent calls to tap […]
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Fat City
Environmental problems ranging from toxic waste to air pollution have long been recognized as having human health effects — but what about urban sprawl? A study released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says sprawl creates or exacerbates many common health problems, such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. The report […]
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"Failure to Act" — Can We Blame Hollywood?
A coalition of California environmental, health, and community organizations sued the U.S. EPA yesterday for neglecting to enforce clean air standards in the state’s infamously smoggy Central Valley. An EPA official acknowledged that the agency had “failed to act” on a 1997 plan to improve air quality and said the lawsuit would force the agency […]
