Latest Articles

Is This Bush Green?

Loud cries to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge aside, the Bush administration has taken some steps to make industry edgy, and some right-wingers are growing nervous that Dubya’s environmental policies will differ very little from former President Clinton’s. Said one anonymous industry lobbyist, commenting on the Bush administration, “If their goal is to […]

Kiss My Arsenic

Pressure-treated wood used to build playgrounds, decks, and docks is leaking arsenic at unsafe levels, according to an investigation by the St. Petersburg Times. The arsenic comes from a pesticide applied to the lumber to protect it from termites and rot. Florida officials say the arsenic is leaking at levels dozens to hundreds of times […]

How Low Can You Go?

Al Thieme, Cascadia Wild!

Al Thieme is an animal tracker, naturalist educator, and executive director for Cascadia Wild!, a conservation and environmental education organization. Currently, he is searching for forest carnivores in Mt. Hood National Forest. Monday, 12 Mar 2001 MT. HOOD, Ore. I’m standing in the White River Canyon on Mt. Hood. Flows of iridescent snow court Mother […]

U. Be Illin'

The U.S. EPA has a new target for its investigations — universities and colleges that aren’t complying with environmental laws. “Our inspectors have not been on one campus where they have not found serious problems,” says Rene Henry in the EPA’s Philadelphia office. For example, Boston University was fined $750,000 in 1997 after a tank […]

J. Griles Bandit

The Bush administration announced yesterday that the president will nominate coal and energy industry lobbyist J. Steven Griles to serve as second-in-command at the Interior Department. Griles first got to know Interior Secretary Gale Norton when both worked at the Interior Department during the Reagan era; back then, Griles helped oversee mining and water issues. […]

I Love Parris in the Springtime

Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) today created the country’s first statewide commission to ensure that poor and minority communities don’t bear the brunt of environmental pollution. Glendening said, “There are communities that tend to be politically less powerful because the family members are too busy struggling for survival. And as a result, they get dumped […]

The Arctic Refuge could become Bush's gays-in-the-military

California’s energy crisis has become a national Rorschach test, saying more about the viewer than about the ink blot. President Bush is a special case: He looks at the deregulation crisis and sees the need to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Caribou-hoo-hoo. Photo: USFWS. Of course, given the number of oil […]

Zed, last of his species, in "Bright Lights, Dark City"

Analyze This!

The Canadian government is failing to adequately protect its citizens from toxic chemicals, according to a report released today by an advisory group to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The report recommends that the government spend millions of dollars to analyze new and existing pesticides and other chemicals for risks, clarify which federal agencies are responsible […]