Latest Articles

It's a Jungle Out There

  Re: Un-Happy Meal Dear Editor: Eric Schlosser deserves a medal for this book, which everyone, especially fast food addicts, should read. I read the book, but must admit that I skipped the chapters on the slaughterhouse industry. I feared that things at the stockyards hadn’t changed very much since Upton Sinclair published The Jungle […]

You Can't Be Too Car-ful

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is worried that it might have overestimated the amount of fuel savings possible if automakers were to redesign their vehicles. The academy is holding a public hearing in early October to consider changing a report issued this summer that found that fuel economy of some vehicles could be boosted […]

Let's Beat Frank About This

Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Wednesday denied rumors that he was trying to attach a rider to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge onto a fast-moving national defense bill. Speaking on the Senate floor, Murkowski said, "That is certainly not the case. It would be inappropriate and in poor taste." Only hours later, however, […]

Celling Like Hotcakes

Canadian company Ballard Power Systems announced yesterday that it had signed a three-year, $22 million deal to provide Ford with fuel cells for a line of vehicles the automaker hopes to launch by 2004. Ballard is providing fuel-cell technology to DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Nissan, and Volkswagen, among others. General Motors expects to have a fuel cell-powered […]

Hip, Hip, EPA!

In its largest enforcement action ever in a pesticides case, the U.S. EPA is seeking $3.7 million in penalties from a Memphis, Tenn.-based pesticide manufacturer for using chemicals from unapproved foreign manufacturers. The agency says that the Micro Flo Company imported thousands of drums of insecticide ingredients from 1996 to 1999 under the pretense that […]

They Have Found What They're Looking for

Following a negative environmental report from the California Energy Commission, a major energy firm has ended its plans to build a big power plant seven miles from Joshua Tree National Park. Environmentalists had feared that a new state law to speed power-plant approval, which was created in the wake of California’s energy "crisis" this spring, […]

Better Schemes for Better Living

The U.K. government is the first out of the gate with a scheme to allow trading in greenhouse gas emissions within its borders — and U.S. chemical company DuPont and Japanese trading house Marubeni have made the first swap under the system. Dupont, which operates plants in the U.K., has sold to Marubeni the rights […]

The Bee's Knees

Roxanne Quimby, owner of Burt’s Bees natural products, is buying up land in Maine in the hopes of laying the foundation for a new national park in the state. So far, she has bought 8,000 acres at a cost of $3 million, with the purchase of another 5,700 acres pending, and she has contributed millions […]

Adding Bite to Their Bark

Enviros in Brazil have created a certification organization to help consumers learn whether wood they are purchasing from the Amazon was cut on the up and up — or whether it was cut illegally. The World Wildlife Fund said yesterday that the organization would function as an arm of the international Forest Stewardship Council. So […]

Green Acre$

In a pleasant surprise, the Bush administration called yesterday for less money to be spent on traditional farm subsidies and more to be spent on boosting conservation efforts and gaining access to international markets. The administration said traditional subsidies have allowed wealthy cotton and grain farmers to expand their acreage without losing benefits because subsidies […]