Latest Articles
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Quarter Quota Quibble
Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the federal government from acquiring land in states where it already has title to more than 25 percent of the land. In the meantime, congressional Republicans are facing off against Democrats over the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which takes tax revenues from […]
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Timber Feast, Salmon Famine?
Washington state may set a national precedent by passing a 50-year deal between the state and private forest owners that would grant tax relief to timber companies while tightening logging rules near salmon streams. The plan, being pushed through the state legislature this week, is part of Washington Gov. Gary Locke’s (D) salmon-recovery effort. The […]
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A review of 'Watching, from the Edge of Extinction'
Cynthia Salley makes an unlikely hero for an environmental fable. A Hawaiian cattle rancher, Salley has tussled for years with the National Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over an endangered species on her property. Yet the authors of Watching, from the Edge of Extinction credit her with saving the 'Alala, or Hawaiian crow.
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A review of 'Earth Odyssey' by Mark Hertsgaard
Will humans survive the environmental degradation we've loosed on the world, or will we drive ourselves to extinction alongside countless other species? Mark Hertsgaard sets forth to explore this question in his wide-ranging book Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future, and while he does not arrive at a vision of humanity on the brink of extinction, he presents a sobering portrait of problems present and impending.
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A review of 'Song of the Meadowlark' by James Eggert
In this gentle and disjointed collection of essays, economist James Eggert pushes his quantitative impulses aside and puts his ecological consciousness front and center. A professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, he argues in Song of the Meadowlark: Exploring Values for a Sustainable Future that classical economic values should play second fiddle to what he terms "meadowlark values," or priorities that esteem the natural world over indiscriminate growth. Eggert propounds that along with environmental impact statements, we as a society conduct "grandchild impact statements" to evaluate how our actions will affect the quality of life for generations to come.
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The Answer, My Friend, Is Funding in the Wind
The U.S. is putting up $1.5 million to export American energy-efficiency technology to China, Russia, Ukraine, and a number of Latin American countries. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced the grant yesterday at an Earth Day news conference in New York, also noting that the Clinton administration later this year would launch a five-year plan […]
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Hasta la Vista, Baby?
Monsanto has temporarily tabled its controversial new “terminator technology” while it waits for completion of studies into its potential environmental, social, and economic effects, the company announced yesterday. The gene technology, which makes seeds sterile so farmers must buy new seeds each year, has spurred an uproar of angry protests around the globe, with some […]
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Congress Suffers Mass Midlife Crisis
A group of congressional members posed with their surfboards on Capitol Hill yesterday to celebrate the House’s unanimous passage of a bill setting national standards for beach water quality. The bill, now headed for the Senate, would make $150 million available to encourage state and local governments to test coastal waters and warn beach-goers when […]
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Protect Your Willy
The number of orca whales along British Columbia’s coast is on the downswing, prompting Canada to place the animal on its threatened species list. The orcas are suffering from declining stocks of salmon, an important food source, and potentially from whale-watchers, who sometimes follow the whales in groups of up to 100 boats. But because […]
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Damn Logjam
A plan to remove a dam from the Elwha River in Washington to help restore salmon runs seems to have hit another stalemate, even though the feuding parties agree the dam should come down. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) is insisting that a bill to fund the dam’s removal include a provision stating that no dam […]
