Latest Articles

Sweet Boycotts Are Made of These

Celebrities and environmental groups in the U.K. kicked off a boycott of ExxonMobil yesterday, in protest of the company’s policy to oppose the Kyoto treaty on climate change and stall action on climate change in the U.S. Annie Lennox, Ralph Fiennes, and Bianca Jagger joined with Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and People and Planet […]

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Mutant Fish

More than 60 environmental and fishing groups today are asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay sending the first genetically modified animal to market. Aqua Bounty Farms has petitioned the agency to approve for sale a salmon genetically engineered to grow more quickly than natural salmon. But enviro and fishing groups want the […]

Dinosaurs Jr.

Wildlife across the globe faces the greatest risk of extinction since dinosaurs kicked the bucket, according to a report published by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Washington, D.C.-based Future Harvest. The report says conservation strategies ain’t working, in part because 45 percent of the world’s major nature reserves are being used to […]

The Genuine Nautical

Environmentalists are concerned about a plan by the Mexican government to build the country’s biggest tourism development in 20 years in Baja California. The development, Nautical Steps, would encompass more than 2,500 miles of coastline, with the goal of attracting 1.6 million U.S. boat owners a year into a collection of new hotels and restaurants. […]

Breathe, Breathe in the Air, Don't Be Afraid to Care

The European Commission yesterday launched a three-year investigation into how Europe can better combat air pollution. Many of the European Union’s existing air-quality rules are due to be revised in 2004, and the Clean Air for Europe investigation will provide the framework for new clean-air standards and national emissions caps. The probe will focus especially […]

I'm Gonna Git You Sucker

More than 15,000 farmers and their supporters gathered yesterday in Klamath Falls, Ore., near the California border, to protest the loss of irrigation water to fish protected by the Endangered Species Act. The protesters formed a one-and-half-mile-long bucket brigade down the city’s main street, passing 50 pails of water from the Upper Klamath Lake into […]

Forward, Marsh

Wisconsin yesterday became the first state to put into law a stronger set of protections for wetlands just four months after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling removed federal safeguards from isolated wetlands that provide habitat for migrating birds. The court decision in January had left vulnerable 4.2 million acres of isolated wetlands in the state […]

Full Metalclad Racket

A judge in British Columbia ruled last week that a NAFTA tribunal was right to award millions of dollars to a U.S. company that was prevented from opening a hazardous waste treatment plant in Mexico. Justice David Tysoe of the Supreme Court of B.C. found that the move by the state government of San Luis […]

Smithsonian and Lesson

After U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle and scientists across the world raised the roof about a plan to close a wildlife conservation center in Virginia, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, Lawrence Small, said yesterday that he was withdrawing the proposal. Small had proposed to save the Smithsonian $2.8 million a year […]

Saving Grace

A government-led program to encourage energy efficiency could reduce growth in electricity demand by 20 to 47 percent in the U.S., according to three-year report by the Energy Department’s five laboratories. The amount of energy savings would depend on the price of new energy technologies and how aggressively the feds promoted efficiency in buildings, factories, […]