Latest Articles

You Scumbag! (And We Mean That As a Compliment)

Scientists say they have found a way to make pond scum power your car, though it may take another couple decades to perfect. Two teams of researchers have discovered how to alter the process of photosynthesis in common green algae to produce hydrogen, a clean-burning fuel that many experts believe will be the power source […]

Go Tell Aunt Road-y, the Old Lawsuit Is Dead

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by Idaho that sought to derail the Clinton administration’s plan to protect some 50 million acres of roadless national forest land from logging or development. The judge ruled that the process of public review has not gone far enough yet for Idaho to challenge the plan in […]

We'll Cross That Elevated Bridge When We Come to It

Americans may have to make serious changes to cope with global warming, including altering the way water is managed in the West, beefing up public health programs, and building higher bridges, according to preliminary findings from the federal U.S. Global Change Research Program. The researchers will issue a final report this summer on the affects […]

Men at Work

Australia is chopping down its forests faster than any other industrialized nation and has cleared about 2.5 million acres of trees in three years, the Australian Conservation Foundation said yesterday. Australia is now ranked as the world’s fifth-biggest land-clearing nation, behind only Brazil, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bolivia. For its part, […]

I Remember Yesterday

Farmageddon

Farmers in the U.S., Canada, and Argentina are expected to slash their plantings of genetically modified (GM) crops by 20 to 25 percent this year because of growing uncertainty in the market, the Worldwatch Institute said yesterday. A growing number of food manufacturers and retailers have said they will stop selling foods containing GM ingredients. […]

Why Frogs Croak

After more than a decade of puzzling over what is killing off frog species around the world, scientists are now postulating that there is no one factor to blame but rather a combination of factors. Contributing problems include pollution, habitat destruction, the introduction of non-native species, crop fertilizers that cause high concentrations of toxic nitrates, […]

Now We're Really Fed Up

The federal government is polluting the nation’s waterways at a record rate, violating the Clean Water Act six times as often as it did in 1993, and at a higher rate than private companies, according to a new report by the EPA. Nearly four of every 10 federal facilities, primarily those operated by the Defense […]

Air and Space Museums

The Clinton administration is planning to protect up to 4 million acres of open space in the West by creating a new class of protected public lands, tentatively called national landscape monuments, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said yesterday. Babbitt said he hoped Congress would act to protect the areas under consideration, but if it does […]

Sher and Sher, I Like

In another sign that anti-dam sentiment is spreading across the U.S., a bill introduced in the California legislature yesterday would require the state to draw up a list of dams that could be demolished to help the recovery of endangered salmon and steelhead trout. The bill — drafted by state Sen. Byron Sher (D), chair […]