Latest Articles
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A Pendley for Your Thoughts
Two property rights groups are challenging five new national monuments in court. The Mountain States Legal Foundation and the BlueRibbon Coalition claim that President Clinton exceeded his authority this year by protecting 1.5 million acres in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington with monument status. William Perry Pendley of the foundation said that Clinton is only […]
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Movin' On Up
Global warming could dramatically change a third of the world’s plant and animal habitat and drive some species to extinction by 2100, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund. The report says that areas in the high northern latitudes, such as northern Russia, Scandinavia, and Canada, are likely to be hardest hit, with […]
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Big Brother Is Watching
An eco-friendly bandit, Shiv Kumar, has eluded police for decades in the forests of north-central India, taking on illegal loggers and once gunning down a poacher for killing black bucks. Kumar, also known as Dadua, or “big brother,” has 241 criminal charges on his police record, ranging from extortion to murder, but forestry officials view […]
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The Prisoner's Dilemma
Rodolfo Montiel Flores, a poor Mexican farmer and environmental activist who was arrested in May 1999 on what enviro and human rights groups say are trumped up charges, was sentenced yesterday to nearly seven years in prison. A district judge in the Mexican state of Guerrero found Montiel guilty of drugs and weapons crimes, though […]
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Pumices, Pumices
After a decade-long struggle, 13 Native American tribes and the Sierra Club have finally succeeded in closing down a strip mine in Arizona that supplied much of the pumice used around the world to make stonewashed denim. Federal officials and the mining company signed an agreement yesterday to shut down the mining operation within six […]
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Ice Capades
Global warming was top-of-the-hour news last week because of a report in the New York Times that open water had been spotted at the North Pole for the first time in perhaps 50 million years. Turns out the Times overstated the development; in a correction today and a follow-up article, the newspaper reports that some […]
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Burning Questions
As the U.S. endures its worst forest fire season in 50 years, some enviros and scientists are wondering whether climate change might be one of the catalysts. “It’s very difficult to say with a great degree of certainty, but what you can say is that this summer’s events are very typical of the kinds of […]
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Crash-Test Smarties
Automakers have long argued that to make fuel-efficient vehicles, they must compromise on safety, but a new report from the General Accounting Office contradicts that claim. The report, requested by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), found little research linking tougher government fuel-economy standards with decreased vehicle safety. If given six to 10 years advance notice of […]
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Money Does Grow on Trees
National forests are 10 times more valuable if used for recreation and to protect wildlife and water quality than they are if used for logging, mining, and grazing, according to a new report commissioned by the Sierra Club. Measured by these new standards, the forests are worth $234 billion and generate 2.9 million sustainable jobs, […]
