Latest Articles

This Plastic, It's Fantastic

Cargill and Dow Chemical are teaming up to make a biodegradable plastic from renewable resources such as corn or wheat instead of from petroleum. The companies say their joint venture, branded NatureWorks, is ready to go into full-scale commercial production, putting the companies at the front of a race among agriculture and chemical firms to […]

Past Their Primates

No primate species have gone extinct within the last century, but now 25 species of apes, monkeys, lemurs, and other primates are in danger of disappearing soon, according to a new report issued by Conservation International. The two main causes of primate decline are the destruction of tropical habitat and hunting by locals; other threats […]

Credit Where Credit Is Due

New York Gov. George Pataki (R) plans to give a boost to green building today by proposing a tax break for builders who construct or renovate large buildings so that they produce less pollution, waste, and indoor air contamination and use less energy than conventional buildings. The tax credits would be limited to $25 million […]

For God's Sake

The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility — an activist network of Catholic and Protestant groups — is waging a David-against-Goliath campaign to get ExxonMobil to acknowledge and address the issue of global warming. Wielding the power of the $90 billion pension fund portfolio owned by its member groups, Interfaith is using its stockholder status to […]

Zed Fun

Meet Zed, last of his species. What’s two-feet-tall, yellow, funny, and desperately looking for a date? Introducing Zed, a critter who’s the last of his species and the star of a weekly Grist Magazine comic strip. Now Zed, whose plight came about because of global warming, has his own video and game. Check ’em out. […]

Wind power is dividing enviros and spurring some odd alliances

The National Audubon Society hosted a news conference in September 1999 to denounce Enron Wind Corp.’s plans to build a wind farm near the town of Gorman in Southern California, with enough capacity to power 40,000 homes. “It is hard to imagine a worse idea than putting a condor Cuisinart next door to critical condor […]

The French Are Fly

The French government is proposing a tax on carbon emissions that would help the country meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto climate change treaty. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s legislative package, to be presented next week, will include the tax, which would take effect in 2001 and apply to France’s state-owned […]

Japanese Banging Their Heads Over Heavy Metal

After years of defiantly eating whale meat in the face of an international ban on whaling, the Japanese are finally cutting back on their consumption — but they’re doing it because the meat is so highly contaminated by pollution, not because they are concerned about dwindling whale populations. Japanese scientists have found high levels of […]

Sealing Their Fate

Dozens of sea lions, seals, and sea turtles die each year after being sucked into power plants along Southern California’s coast, but federal and regional regulators have done little to stop the deaths. Several power plants use ocean water to cool the super-hot steam that powers energy-generating turbines; intake pipes extend far into the ocean […]

Th!nk Different

Ford will announce today that it has created an independent brand, Th!nk, that will develop and market low-pollution and electric-powered vehicles, as well as battery-powered bicycles. Th!nk, named after an electric car produced by a Norwegian company that Ford bought last year, will soon begin selling bikes and an electric golf-cart-like vehicle over the Internet […]