Latest Articles

Michelle Nijhuis reviews Power Politics by Arundhati Roy

When your first novel wins the Booker Prize, sells 6 million copies, and earns you a publicity trip around the world, what do you do next? Arundhati Roy, author of the 1997 novel The God of Small Things, decided she wanted to switch from fiction to the hard facts. A year after Roy’s big debut, […]

Witless for the Prosecution

The Bush administration decided yesterday to continue prosecuting owners of aging coal-run power plants and oil refineries that upgraded their facilities without installing pollution control devices, as required by new source review regulations. The decision was based on the recommendation of the Justice Department, which said the Clinton administration had acted reasonably in filing the […]

Full-court Cypress

The U.S. National Park Service has given an initial green light to a proposal to search for oil in Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve by detonating dynamite in 14,700 holes and drilling an 11,800-foot exploratory well. The preserve is a watershed for the Everglades and home to the endangered Florida panther and other protected species. […]

Animal Crackers

Undaunted by the post-Sep. 11 anti-terrorism climate, an Animal Liberation Front spokesperson yesterday released the first-ever “year-end report” on illegal actions committed in the name of animals and the environment, or so-called eco-terrorism. The report cites 137 such acts in 2001, including an act of arson at the University of Washington that resulted in $5.3 […]

Deep Sea Diving

As if all the political strife weren’t enough, here’s more grim news from the Middle East: The Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, is getting even lower. In the last decade, the sea, which already lies more than 1,300 feet below sea level, has fallen an additional 20 feet. Scientists attribute the change to […]

Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire

Fires that rage in thousands of underground coal seams around the world are polluting the air and releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas. Although coal fires occur naturally from spontaneous combustion, scientists say the frequency of such fires has risen as mining has exposed coal deposits to more fires and […]

Minke-dinke Do

A Japanese proposal to create the world’s first whale farm is not playing well with environmentalists, who describe it as “totally unfeasible” and possibly a smokescreen for the nation’s notorious whale-hunting activities. None of that has deterred the town of Hirado, in southwestern Japan, from making preparations for the farm, claiming it will attract tourists […]

Trash Can Do!

Activists, industry reps, and government officials are gathering in Seattle, Wash., this week for the National Recycling Congress, but the mood isn’t exactly festive. Seems recycling has fallen on hard times: International commercial markets for many recyclables are down, fiber markets are diving, and a decade of growth in recycling rates has plateaued or even […]

Whistle Stop

The ombudsman for the U.S. EPA, Robert Martin, is accusing the agency’s administrator, Christine Todd Whitman, of punishing him for opposing an agreement limiting the financial liability of Citigroup for a controversial Superfund cleanup. Martin alleges that Whitman had a conflict of interest in the case because Citigroup is a principal investor in her husband’s […]

Oil the Way

California Gov. Gray Davis (D) reiterated his opposition to offshore oil drilling in his state yesterday and vowed he would fight the Bush administration all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary to stop development of 36 drilling leases granted by the federal government. Because of a moratorium imposed by the first President […]