Latest Articles
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Pink Flawed
Scores of flamingos have been found dead in western Kenya, reviving concerns that pollution is killing off the birds. The numbers of dead birds aren’t as high as in some past years — 40,000 flamingos died over three months in 1993 and 20,000 died in 1995 — but researchers say many of the remaining birds […]
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Blue Light Special: $14 Dollar Apes!
Despite laws against eating endangered species like bonobo apes, meat from half an ape goes for $7 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, far less expensive than the price for beef and easier to get than chicken. Bonobos are on the brink of extinction due to war, habitat loss, and a big-time bush-meat industry. Fewer […]
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Modified in China
The Chinese government unveiled new regulations yesterday for genetically engineered foods that they hope will make the use of the technology more widespread. Genetically engineered cotton, soybeans, rice, potatoes, and other crops are already commonly planted in the country. Among other things, the rules require that genetically engineered foods be clearly labeled on packages. Chinese […]
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Rainforest Action and Highway-building Network
Preserving the rainforest is the top priority for the 20 million people living in Brazil’s Amazon, according to a study by the World Wildlife Fund. The study, which the group said was the first of its kind in the region, found that 34 percent of respondents ranked preservation as their No. 1 concern. However, 27.8 […]
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The Hypocritical Oath
The American Hospital Association is backing out of an agreement with the U.S. EPA that would have cut hospital waste in half by the end of the decade. The agreement was signed to much fanfare in 1998, and then-Vice President Al Gore called attention to it in an award ceremony the following year. Under the […]
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Yucca Mountain, Yuck Accounting
The U.S EPA yesterday set a standard for how much radiation would be allowed to leak into groundwater, air, and soil at the proposed storage facility for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The standard is similar to the one proposed by the Clinton administration, capping radiation leaks during the facility’s first 10,000 years to […]
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No Green Medal
The International Olympic Committee claims that environmental protection is a fundamental part of the Olympic Games, along with sports and culture. But only one-tenth of 1 percent of the budget for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics will be spent on the environment, says Diane Conrad, who is overseeing environmental programs for the Salt […]
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Gloom and Duma
Despite polls that suggest that 80 to 90 percent of Russians oppose the plan, the lower house of the country’s parliament, the Duma, voted yesterday to allow the import of nuclear waste, which would either be stored in perpetuity in Siberia or reprocessed into nuclear fuel and exported. The upper house is expected to approve […]
