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Oil Things to Oil People

The Bush administration says the California electricity crisis gives weight to its argument that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska needs to be opened to oil and gas drilling as soon as possible to provide more fuel to the country. The Bush team is working with Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski (R) to propose a […]

Mountin' Gorillas

Only two mountain gorilla populations exist in the world, but the good news is that the larger of two has grown by 10 percent in the past decade, according to conservation groups. About 355 gorillas live in the Virunga mountain range spanning Rwanda, Uganda, and the Republic of Congo, despite armed conflict in the area […]

Slow Down, You Chew Too Fast

The Slow Food movement, which strives to save foods that are produced locally and organically, has taken root in the U.S., with some 4,000 members participating in 50 chapters across the country. It seeks to put people in touch with food and the farmers who produce it. Some 60,000 people worldwide in 35 countries now […]

Finding Forester (For Now)

The world’s forests are continuing to shrink, but at a slower rate than five years ago, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said yesterday. Since 1995, the world has lost 22 million acres of forest per year, a figure 20 percent lower than the previous five years. Forests are disappearing most rapidly in Africa and […]

Ford, Lincoln, Mercury

American automakers haven’t kept promises to eliminate mercury from new cars, according to two different reports by environmental groups. In 1995, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler pledged to phase out the use of mercury in electrical switches and lighting. In 2000, however, General Motors and Ford sold vehicles containing 6 million to 9 million mercury […]

Bare Naked Ladies

Six bare-breasted women — one astride a horse, a la Lady Godiva — and 30 fully clothed people protested in Vancouver, B.C., yesterday over a company’s plan to log old growth on Salt Spring Island. The protesters stopped traffic for more than an hour at the headquarters of the company, Texada Land Corp., and drew […]

Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar? I Did! Me! Me!

President Bush and the folks he plans to bring with him into office — Gale Norton at Interior, Christine Todd Whitman at U.S. EPA, et al — are big fans of letting industry police itself on environmental regulations, rather than relying on government crackdowns to reduce pollution. The idea behind “self-auditing” is that it does […]

Navajo pageant winner is an enviro star

Outfitted in moccasins and traditional dresses, the four contestants in the 49th Miss Navajo Nation Pageant — held this past September in Window Rock, Ariz. — demonstrated a dazzling array of cultural skills. They discussed, in Navajo, the Treaty of 1868. They carded and spun wool, and they displayed rugs they had woven. They prepared […]

Skating on Thin, Contaminated Ice

Efforts to protect water resources and treat drinking water properly are flunking in many parts of Canada, says a report by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund in Canada. Five of the country’s 13 provinces and territories received Ds for their water protection rules, and one — Newfoundland — received an F. Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec […]

A Sandy Dunkin'

Sand dunes are already within 60 miles of Beijing and are moving forward as quickly as 15 miles a year, threatening the city with major sandstorms and much worse in upcoming years. Last year, sandstorms hospitalized many residents with respiratory problems and cost the city millions of dollars in damages. More than a quarter of […]