Latest Articles
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Interior Officials Kick Back?
When the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight helped win a lawsuit last summer against Mobil Oil for paying less than it owed the Treasury for drilling on federal lands, it decided to share its payment with two federal officials, giving them $350,000 each for their years of arguing that oil companies had not been […]
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Hard of Herring
Underwater noise from supertankers, oil drilling, and military sonar may be drastically disrupting the living patterns of whales, seals, and other sea life, according to a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The group contends that the noises could tamper with the creatures’ natural communication systems and cause them to deviate from […]
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Trade Remarks
Britain’s top 25 companies are joining together on Thursday to launch a greenhouse gas emissions-trading system in an attempt to persuade the government to drop plans for a carbon tax that could cost polluters as much as $3.2 billion a year. A spokesperson for BP Amoco said the companies, which also include Royal Dutch Shell […]
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Sarah Ruth van Gelder, YES! magazine
Sarah Ruth van Gelder is the executive editor of YES! a Journal of Positive Futures and a resident of Winslow Cohousing on Bainbridge Island, Wash. Sunday, 27 Jun 1999 Tonight was a forum in our cohousing group, and it was my turn to facilitate. We are going through a difficult transition, which has created an […]
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Will This Little Piggy Go to Market?
Canadian scientists have genetically engineered an eco-friendly pig whose manure may contain 20 to 50 percent less phosphorus than normal pigs, potentially reducing soil and water pollution. The scientists say their “enviropigs” are likely the first animals engineered to help cope with environmental problems. The new pigs could abet pork producers in raising more pigs […]
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Pull Over, Corn. May I See Your License?
In a serious setback for genetically modified foods, EU environment ministers today agreed to place tough new labeling and monitoring rules on the foods. The decision means that the EU is unlikely to authorize any new genetically modified crops before 2002. The new proposed measures would require stricter risk assessments before genetically modified products are […]
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Doe in the Headlights
Though billions of dollars have been spent on the cleanup of U.S. nuclear weapons sites, the Department of Energy is coming up short in the task because its bureaucracy is not taking advantage of recent technological advances, a committee of the National Research Council said yesterday. Over the past several years, DOE has spent between […]
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Insects Is Best
The world might become a buggier place thanks to global warming, presenting farmers with new worries, according to a study published today in Science magazine. Paleobiologists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History studied fossil evidence of insect damage on plants in prehistoric Wyoming and found that insect population and appetite surged as temperatures […]
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Bank Robbery?
The World Bank overruled U.S. objections yesterday when it approved a loan to China that includes $40 million for resettling 58,000 poor Chinese farmers onto fertile lands historically inhabited by Tibetans. But in an effort to smooth over high tensions, the Bank agreed to delay payment of the $40 million until an independent review board […]
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Read My Lips: Yes, No, Maybe
EPA Administrator Carol Browner has decided not to vie for an open Senate seat in her native Florida. Maybe. See what you make of this statement by EPA spokesperson Kim Rubey: “At this point, it’s not something she’s actively looking at. She believes she could win, but there are too many obligations she must meet […]
