Latest Articles
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Fine and Dandy
The European Union wants fines to be imposed on nations that fail to meet their commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, with the money going to support projects that would reduce such emissions and help curb global warming. The environment ministers of European countries discussed the matter yesterday in Luxembourg as they worked to develop […]
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Building Excitement
A building under construction and set to open in New York City in 2002 may earn the distinction of being the world’s greenest high-rise apartment complex. The 26-floor, 250-unit building is intended to be 30 percent more energy efficient than state codes require. It will take advantage of natural light, use motion-controlled and dimmable lighting, […]
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Once in a Wild
Environmentalists, ranchers, miners, and Utah politicians have agreed for the first time ever on a plan to designate a Bureau of Land Management area in Utah as wilderness. With wide support from different interests in the state, a measure to protect 5,200 acres in eastern Utah was approved unanimously by a House Resources subcommittee, part […]
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Money Makes the World Go Brown
Texas Gov. George W. Bush has raised 15 times more money from oil and gas interests than Vice President Al Gore, a total of $1.54 million for his presidential campaign. Bush’s biggest supporters over the course of his political career have been employees of Enron Oil Company, and at least 25 of his top fund-raisers […]
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The Smog Days of Summer
About 117 million Americans live in areas with smoggy air, according to a report released yesterday by the Clean Air Network, a coalition of environmental and public health groups. The report found that more than half of the nearly 600 counties in the U.S. that fully monitor air quality are above the legal limit for […]
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The Dry Wall of China
Desertification is spreading across northern China, caused by rampant logging, overgrazing, and the cultivation of marginal lands for farming, and exacerbated by drought. About a dozen severe sandstorms hit Beijing this spring. The village of Longbaoshan outside Beijing is threatened by a mountain of sand that’s advancing at a rate of about 30 feet a […]
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Goofus and Gallons
Rising gas prices are becoming a hot issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, as the cost of a gallon reaches as high as $2.39 in parts of the Midwest. George W. Bush and other Republicans blame the Clinton administration, saying the increases are being caused in part by clean air standards that require the sale […]
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Don't Take Me to the River, Don't Drop Me in the Water
More than a dozen former members of an elite Israeli naval unit are filing suit against the government for endangering their health by requiring them to swim and dive in the horrendously polluted Kishon River, and occasionally even drink the river’s putrid water as punishment. More than 30 of the naval commandos have been struck […]
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Sing Out Loud, Sing Out Long
Some male humpback whales lengthened their songs while others ceased to sing altogether when exposed to low-frequency sonar tests off the coast of Hawaii in 1998, suggesting that sonar transmissions by the U.S. Navy could disrupt whale breeding and cause other behavioral changes, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. On average, […]
