Latest Articles

Green Gobblin'

The environment has been a defining issue in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, where Democrat James McGreevey and Republican Bret Schundler are vying to lead the nation’s most densely populated state. McGreevey, who says eight years of Republican control by former governor and current U.S. EPA head Christie Whitman were bad for the state’s environment, is […]

Bad News, Bears

The controversial proposal now before the Senate to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could violate an international agreement signed by the U.S. in 1973 to protect polar bears and their habitats. An internal report obtained by the Washington Post shows that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in 1995 that […]

Appease in a Pod

In a compromise meant to appease both industry and environmentalists, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark today banned all commercial uses of genetically modified organisms for the next two years, while allowing GMO field tests to begin. Test plantings of such crops as peas and petunias could be start within the next year; the government […]

Sigh. Gone

Vietnam is just a formality away from building a new highway that will cut through the nation’s oldest national park. Environmentalists say the controversial Ho Chi Minh Highway, which would link Hanoi in the north with Ho Chi Minh City in the south, poses a serious threat to rare and endangered species in Cuc Phuong […]

Built Ford Tough

William Clay Ford, Jr., is taking over as CEO of his great-granddaddy’s company, following the resignation today of Jacques Nasser. The changing of the guard at the Ford Motor Company could mean that environmentalists will gain an even more powerful ally in traditionally enemy territory; the younger Ford has a reputation for being unusually eco-friendly […]

Sun Francisco Giants

San Francisco could become the nation’s leader in alternative energy use if voters approve two solar-energy ballot measures at the polls next week. Propositions B and H would enable the city to sell bonds to install solar panels on residential, commercial, and government rooftops, creating the largest solar power infrastructure in the United States. Advocates […]

Terminal Illness

Plans to build a new $350 million liquid natural gas terminal in Baja California were unveiled yesterday by the El Paso Corporation, but a Mexican city is withholding approval due to environmental and social concerns. The Rosarito municipal government has denied El Paso a land-use permit, and the city’s mayor has described the project as […]

Morocco, Mo' Talk

Close to 4,000 people from 163 countries converged on Marrakech, Morocco, today for the beginning of a two-week conference on the Kyoto treaty on climate change. The opening was characterized by unusually heavy security, because the conference is the largest international gathering to be held since Sept. 11 and the first in a Muslim country. […]

Less Than Ground Zero

Six weeks after the attacks that reduced the World Trade Center to a pile of rubble in lower Manhattan, dust and fires from Ground Zero are releasing toxic chemicals and metals into the air in quantities far greater than initially reported. Although U.S. and New York EPA officials have consistently downplayed the environmental hazards, government […]

Cut That Out

California’s largest timber company, Sierra Pacific Industries, will shift its logging practices from selective thinning to clear-cutting on 70 percent of the 1.5 million acres it owns in the state. Company representatives say the clear-cutting will take place along ridgelines or roads, allowing firefighters better access to control wildfires. But environmentalists say clear-cutting actually increases […]