Latest Articles
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Grace Under Pressure
A class-action lawsuit was filed yesterday on behalf of residents of Libby, Mont., against W.R. Grace & Co., former owner of an asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mine that operated for more than 60 years in the town and is alleged to have caused serious health problems for community members. Libby, population 2,700, is potentially the site of […]
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Tune In, Plug In, Drop Out
While consumerism runs rampant and companies produce a constant stream of new widgets to tempt potential buyers, a small but growing number of American high-tech workers are adopting “voluntary simplicity” and committing to uncluttering and focusing their lives. For some, like Catherine Harper, a self-described “geek for hire,” this means growing their own food, spinning […]
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Suzanne Cheavens, Mountainfreak magazine
Suzanne Cheavens is the senior editor of Mountainfreak magazine, based in Telluride, Colo. Monday, 31 Jan 2000 TELLURIDE, Colo. Welcome to the happy chaos of my life as editor of Mountainfreak magazine. Since you probably have a voyeuristic streak if you’re reading someone else’s diary entries, I’ll start by letting you in on a secret. […]
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The Mod Squad
Delegates from more than 130 nations on Saturday adopted the first global treaty regulating trade in genetically modified products, the first time that environmental concerns and trade rules have been reconciled in an international agreement. The treaty allows countries to bar imports of genetically modified seeds, crops, and animals, even if scientific studies have not […]
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On With the No-Show
Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) may have said it best at a rally Sunday afternoon in the postcard-perfect New Hampshire town of Peterborough. Asked what he planned to do to improve the environment, McCain mused briefly about convening a panel of scientists to figure out once and for all whether global warming exists, and then […]
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Duh.
The U.S. government is finally conceding that workers who helped make nuclear weapons at 14 plants have higher-than-normal rates of a wide range of cancers, most of them fatal. The conclusion comes from a draft report prepared at the request of Pres. Clinton. Since the Manhattan Project began 57 years ago, the government has until […]
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Tickle Me, Elko
Hundreds of disgruntled Nevadans paraded through Elko, Nev., with 10,000 shovels on Saturday to protest a federal environmental policy that is keeping the U.S. Forest Service from rebuilding a washed-out road. The residents want to reconstruct a dirt road in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, but the USFS says the project would lead to erosion that […]
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Ready, Set, Kyoto
While most industrial nations and developing countries are pumping out more greenhouse gases than ever, Japan’s carbon dioxide emissions dropped by 3.8 percent in 1998. About 60 percent of the decline is attributed to the country’s economic slump, but some resulted from efficiency improvements, according to Japan’s Environment Agency. The nation intends to continue reducing […]
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Free Trade Experiences Labor Pains
Pres. Clinton on Saturday talked up the importance of environmental and labor issues in global trade, speaking in Davos, Switzerland, to the World Economic Forum, an elite gathering of corporate and political leaders. Clinton, a major booster of globalization throughout his presidency, has modified his approach somewhat in the aftermath of the failed World Trade […]
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Fallout Shelter
Civilization did not collapse into computational confusion on New Year’s Eve. The worst Y2K glitch I experienced was finding all my email files suddenly dated 1944, and that was easily fixed. What happened? Or rather, what didn’t happen? There is a self-congratulatory answer to that question: We were clever and fast and rich enough to […]
