Latest Articles
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Giving New Meaning to National "Park"
Grand Canyon National Park is planning the dramatic step of banning most of the 1.5 million cars and buses that make their way through the park each year. As of 2002, visitors will be asked to leave their vehicles outside the park entrance and ride a light rail public transit system into the park.
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Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz — What a Weird Idea This Is
Researchers are planning an experiment this year to pipe liquid carbon dioxide into the Pacific Ocean at a depth of at least 1,000 feet to find out whether the ocean could serve as a massive storage bin for CO2, a greenhouse gas. Scientists say that putting the CO2 under high pressure as a liquid could […]
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It's Not Curiosity That's Killing These Cats
A plan to reintroduce the lynx to southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains is running into some grave problems — four of the 13 cats released in February and March have died of starvation and a fifth was recaptured in an emaciated state. The project of the Colorado Division of Wildlife had initially intended to move […]
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Song for the Bluefin Tuna
Carl Safina is a fanatic fisherman. He’s especially fanatic about ocean fish, which got him interested in seabirds, which got him into serious biology, which got him infuriated about what he was seeing in the fisheries, which got him to found the Audubon Society’s Living Oceans Program. All of which got him to write Song […]
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Handsome Ransom for Ignoble Chernobyl
Ukraine reneged on a pledge last week to shut down the last working nuclear reactor at Chernobyl, saying that the reactor would continue to operate until Western nations cough up $1.2 billion needed to complete two new replacement reactors. Today, on the 13th anniversary of the devastating nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine is still haunted […]
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Old McDonald Had a Fit
Europeans and others around the world are burning and uprooting test plots of genetically altered plants in protests that they call “decontaminations.” More than two dozen influential British consumer groups last month called for a five-year moratorium on genetically altered crops, while everyone from top chefs to McDonald’s in Britain have promised to eliminate the […]
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No Coal, No Nukes — No Profits?
Green Mountain Energy — which is racking up both customers and financial losses as it markets no-coal, no-nuclear power — is planning to make a public stock offering. The company has attracted 36,000 customers in Pennsylvania and 21,000 in California, states which have deregulated their electricity markets. In California, virtually all customers who have opted […]
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Dead Zone: A Dimension Beyond That Which is Known to Fish
The EPA is seeking a way to bring life back to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, a 5,000- to 7,000-square-mile area from which fish have largely disappeared. The problem is blamed in large part on fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms. The EPA should have a plan in place by next year to […]
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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 […]
