Latest Articles
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An Uphill Climate
Sixteen environmental groups are banding together today in Switzerland to unveil a new Climate Voice website that lets visitors send messages to the world’s political leaders calling for action to address climate change. The groups — which include the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace International, and Friends of the Earth — aim to generate 10 million […]
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We Thought They'd Never Notice
New York Gov. George Pataki (R) yesterday signed into law the nation’s most stringent bill on notification of pesticide spraying. The law requires schools and day care facilities to give 48 hours notice to parents and staff before pesticides are applied on school grounds. It also gives county governments the option of requiring commercial pesticide […]
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Farmers are reaping rewards from wind energy
Farmers and ranchers in the United States are discovering that they own not only land, but also the wind rights that accompany it. A farmer in Iowa who leases a quarter acre of cropland to the local utility as a site for a wind turbine can typically earn $2,000 a year in royalties from the […]
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Dairy, Dairy, Quite Contrary
Grassroots opposition is springing up against massive dairy operations in California, with environmentalists and community activists worried about the millions of pounds of manure produced by facilities with thousands and even tens of thousands of cows. The animal waste is collected in pits that can be larger than several football fields, and opponents say they […]
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Stacking the Biotech Deck
Back in the 1970s the awesome news that scientists had learned how to redesign genes started a regulatory flurry. Distinguished panels met to ask imponderable questions. Could some human-created form of life carry self-multiplying havoc into the world? How can we prevent such a disaster? Image: Courtesy DOE Human Genome Project. Back then genetic escapes […]
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That Really Hits the Spot
We could preserve a sizable chunk of the world’s plant and animal species by protecting a mere 1.4 percent of the earth’s land surface, or 25 biologically rich “hot spots,” says Oxford ecologist Norman Myers. The estimated price tag is $5 billion over 10 years, and efforts are underway to raise the necessary funds. Harvard […]
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Deborah Schultz, Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program
Deborah Schultz is the education coordinator for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, a watershed restoration program in southeast Louisiana. Monday, 21 Aug 2000 THIBODAUX, La. Today I will travel 20 minutes to Houma to meet with a film crew from CNN that is coming to film local teachers and school children. Just what is CNN […]
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Run for It, Santa!
For the first time in perhaps 50 million years, the thick ice covering the North Pole has melted, opening up an ice-free stretch of ocean about a mile wide, according to scientists who recently visited the scene. The melting is being seen by many as further evidence that climate change is upon us. James McCarthy, […]
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Cherry Bomb
Some Ontario lawn-care companies have begun covering up the smell of toxic pesticides with fragrances like bubble gum, mint, and cherry. Enviros and others worry that this new trend could endanger children, who might be attracted to the scents. Julie Langer of the World Wildlife Fund: “Pesticides give off a pretty recognizable smell and people […]
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There's Methane to His Madness
James Hansen, a respected global warming expert and director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has spent nearly two decades urging countries to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to help curb climate change, but now he’s started singing a different tune. In research to be published this week in the Proceedings of […]
