Latest Articles
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Republican Riders in the Saddle Again
Congress’s efforts to pass the massive bills that authorize government spending are being tied up because some Republicans insist on attaching to the bills unrelated amendments called “riders,” many of which aim to undermine environmental protections. Defenders of Wildlife says that Republicans have placed at least 56 anti-environmental riders on 10 appropriations bills, including measures […]
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Smokin' Reefers
Tropical waters in the Northern Hemisphere have been heating up at a dramatic rate, about 1 degree Fahrenheit per decade since 1984, contributing to the unprecedented bleaching of coral reefs over the past 10 years, according to an analysis released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA scientists had no explanation for […]
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Weird Science
In a move that has angered the international community, Japan sent out a fleet of ships into the North Pacific on Saturday with the aim of killing three species of whales — minke, sperm, and Bryde’s. An international moratorium on commercial whaling went into effect in 1986, but Japan has continued to hunt several hundred […]
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Beyond a Shadow of a Drought
China is enduring one of the worst droughts in its history, and many experts are worrying that the nation is running out of water for its 1.3 billion people. Some 400 of China’s 668 cities have declared water shortages, which means that taps may work only a few hours a day, if at all. At […]
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20/20 Questions
ABC News is being hit with questions about the integrity of a “20/20” report on organic foods that was aired in February and again in July of this year. The report by John Stossel claimed, among other things, that non-organic produce does not necessarily have more pesticide residue than organic produce. Stossel said this claim […]
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A Little Crab'll Do Ya
Virginia officials have taken the unprecedented step of declaring a 665-square-mile area of the Chesapeake Bay off-limits to fishers in order to protect the area’s beleaguered population of blue crabs. Blue crabs have also been suffering in the estuary of the Altamaha River in Georgia. Long-time Georgia crabber James Holland, tired of seeing his livelihood […]
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Flush With Success
Canadian plumbing supply stores near the U.S. border are doing a bustling business thanks to Americans who want old-fashioned 3.5-gallon-capacity toilets instead of the 1.6-gallon low-flush models required in the U.S. since 1994. Some political conservatives have been driving the trend, arguing that 1.6 gallons often aren’t enough to do the job and that the […]
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Bad News Bears
Recovery has been slow for the grizzly bear, which 25 years ago today was protected under the Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states. About 1,200 grizzlies roam the continental U.S. today, up from 600 in 1975 but far below the 50,000 estimated to have been living west of the Mississippi 200 years ago. […]
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Raking in the Greens
Ralph Nader’s presidential run is giving a big boost to efforts to establish the Green Party around the nation. With Nader’s campaign getting national news coverage, and pundits publicly speculating about whether he may draw votes away from Al Gore, the Green Party now has a higher profile than ever before. More than 300 Green […]
