Latest Articles
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Giant Sucking Sounds II
The first widespread application of hydrogen fuel-cell technology might not be in cars but in vacuum cleaners. Industry giant Electrolux said last week that it is close to developing a fuel-cell vacuum that would be lighter than conventional models, much quieter, and, of course, free of a power cord. Big advances in pollution reduction are […]
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Tank Goodness
Thankfully, the oil spill in the Galapagos has caused only minimal damage to wildlife, enviros say. The oil tanker Jessica ran aground about 550 yards off the Ecuadorean archipelago and spilled about 185,000 gallons of fuel, but ocean currents have helped the clean-up effort and carried most of the fuel away from the islands, which […]
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Big Yak Attack
A ragtag group of about two dozen men fighting to stop poaching of the Tibetan antelope in China was forced to disband this month. Leaders of the China’s Wild Yak Brigade were told to take county jobs, and other members were offered jobs with the government’s less-experienced anti-poaching program. The antelope, whose fine wool is […]
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Trent Warfare
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has promised Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski (R) that his energy bill, which is backed by oil interests, will be one of the first five bills introduced in the Senate this year. A draft of the bill proposes more drilling for oil and gas on federal lands, including the […]
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Rage Against the Machine
Betty Krawczyk, a 73-year-old great-grandmother, romance writer, and hero to many Canadian environmentalists, was released from jail yesterday, after a judge ruled that she had served enough of her year-long sentence for protesting old-growth logging in the Elaho Valley in British Columbia. Krawczyk began serving her jail term four months ago just as five loggers […]
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El Nino — and El Other Nino
In its first move on global warming, the Bush administration has asked that the next international summit on climate change be delayed two months. When talks to hammer out the details of the Kyoto treaty collapsed last November at The Hague, Netherlands, the chair of the talks, Jan Pronk, scheduled another session for this May. […]
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Stiff As a Board
Withstanding pressure from automakers, air quality officials in California voted 9-0 yesterday to move forward with a mandate requiring that 3 million electric and low-polluting vehicles be sold in the state over the next decade. The vote by the California Air Resources Board automatically triggers similar mandates in Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York, and affects […]
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"Clean cars" are the devil's tools, diverting attention from truly green solutions
The “clean car” is cool this season. “Is your car an energy hog? Get a new one,” a web ad bombards me before I have finished the morning’s second cup of coffee. “Your vote counts here,” says the flashing ad that rates the energy efficiency of the web surfer’s car, luring owners to buy a […]
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Meet the Bush team, brought to you by Exxon
To an extraordinary degree, the administration assembled by George W. Bush is made up of men and women with experience in the automobile and oil industries. With the energy crisis in California, such energy expertise at the helm, it would seem, must be a good thing. Would that it were so. In reality, the Bush […]
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The Big Three are talking a good game, but reality does not match the rhetoric
Judging by the media hype over Ford’s and General Motors’ early January announcements on “hybrid” vehicles at the North American International Auto Show, one would think that automakers have seen the light and are finally matching their professed concern for the environment with deeds. Hybrid cars deliver better fuel efficiency by using two power sources […]
