Latest Articles

Put Him in the Stocks

Vice President Al Gore said this week that he will not divest himself of stock in Occidental Petroleum, despite the company’s controversial plans to drill for oil in the Colombian Amazon on ancestral land of the U’wa indigenous tribe. The U’wa fear the drilling will devastate land that they consider sacred, and last month hundreds […]

Nativity Seen

The U.S. is home to more than 200,000 native species of plants, animals, and other wild things, at least twice as many as previously thought, according to a new Nature Conservancy study, the most comprehensive look at biodiversity ever undertaken in the nation. As many as a third of the species are imperiled to some […]

Congrats, Big Three — You Didn't Come in Absolutely Last!

Vehicles produced by U.S. automakers rank as nearly the worst polluters on the road, behind only Isuzu models in a new study of 11 automakers by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The study looked at fuel economy, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions from the 1998 models each auto company sold in the U.S. For […]

Tapiring Off

Illegal logging is threatening Honduras’s Platano River Biosphere Reserve and other tropical forests that are integral parts of a biological corridor that winds through Central America from Mexico to Panama. The U.N. has provided funding for protection of the biosphere reserve since 1971, but logging companies continue to chop down trees illegally and poor farmers […]

Fine Then, We Quit Too

Enviros are rejoicing after General Motors announced yesterday that it is quitting the Global Climate Coalition, an industry lobbying group that has denied the reality of climate change and fought against efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. GM is the latest in a long line of deserters, including Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, British Petroleum, Royal […]

Sunshine on My Shareholder Makes Me Happy

Greenpeace said yesterday that it has purchased $241,000 of stock in the Royal Dutch/Shell oil company in an effort to pressure the company to build a huge solar panel production plant. The group bought the minimum stake required so that it has the right to communicate with fellow shareholders ahead of the company’s annual meeting […]

Sulfuring Succotash!

In a controversial move, the EPA has decided to sharply reduce the level of sulfur allowed in diesel fuel, calling diesel emissions a serious health hazard. The agency’s announcement came as a coalition of state and local air pollution agencies was planning to release a new study today that found that toxic chemicals from diesel […]

Muir Power to 'Em

A fierce ideological struggle within the Sierra Club is pitting moderates against radicals and polarizing some chapters of the group. For decades, the Sierra Club has been guided by moderate enviros who sometimes take the pragmatic approach of making compromises with industry and government agencies over such issues as logging. But a more radical coalition […]

Gray Matter

Logging trucks circled Sacramento streets yesterday to protest new, stricter timber rules proposed by California Gov. Gray Davis’s (D) administration, while Earth First! activists were arrested for protesting that the rules weren’t strict enough. The state Board of Forestry is scheduled to vote today on the rules, which would affect more than 16 million acres […]

More Powell to 'Em

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered yesterday near Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona at dueling rallies on the issue of whether to drain Lake Powell. Enviros, including the Glen Canyon Action Network, are pushing for the dam to be torn down and the reservoir drained to restore the Colorado River and Glen Canyon to their natural state. […]