Latest Articles

Where's the Beef?

Ranching and farming groups got word yesterday that the Supreme Court will hear their challenge to the Clinton administration’s revised livestock grazing policies for federal land throughout the West. The court voted to weigh an appeal that says the administration’s 1995 rules, intended to improve management and protection of the land, violate federal law and […]

Mortality Kombat

The world would have 300 million more people today if China had not pursued its aggressive population control efforts, the Chinese government boasted yesterday, as the world population hit the 6 billion mark. Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said China intends to continue its present family planning policy. A senior U.N. Population Fund official praised the […]

And the Other 20 Percent Just Want More Hockey on T.V.

Some 80 percent of Canadians say environmental concerns such as air pollution are important considerations when they purchase a new automobile, according to a survey conducted for business consultants Ernst and Young. About half of those people say they would be willing to pay more for an eco-friendly vehicle, with 11 percent willing to shell […]

Six

• approximate number of species that go extinct per hour • percent by which electricity demand is rising annually in China and South Asia • percentage of the energy used in U.S. manufacturing that goes toward food processing and packaging • percent reduction in the average household’s water pollution if it converts from buying conventional […]

The Deep Six

Months ago, the United Nations decided to make an event out of the fact that the human population meter would soon click over another billion. They picked an arbitrary date — October 12 — and declared it the Day of 6 Billion. What kind of event should this be? A day of repentance? A celebration? […]

Congratulations! It's a boy!

The world’s 6 billionth inhabitant, a boy in Sarajevo, was born today. U.N. demographers chose today as a symbolic marker of the population milestone. Some 78 million new people are born each year, and the equivalent of San Francisco’s population is born every three days. Although the population growth rate is slowing, human numbers have […]

Something's Rockin' in Denmark

Denmark, the world’s wind-power powerhouse, has embarked on a 10-year government project to run an entire community, the island of Samso, solely on renewable energy. The country already gets 7 percent of its electricity from wind, and by 2030 that percentage should rise to 50, according to the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy. Denmark’s […]

The Road to Hell is Paved by the Clinton Administration?

Pres. Clinton kowtowed to the Republican leadership on Saturday by signing into law a transportation funding bill that contained a provision extending for another year a freeze on developing or even studying new fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks. A White House spokesperson said that although the administration believed the provision was “ill-advised,” […]

Tiger Balm

The tiger may be making a comeback, after many biologists predicted that it would be all but extinct by the year 2000. Conservationists warn against complacency and stress that the tiger is still endangered, but they are optimistic about rebounding populations in some areas, including eastern Siberia, Nepal, and parts of India. The good news […]

WTO Calls Kettle Black

While enviros prepare to raise Cain during the World Trade Organization talks starting in Seattle on November 30, the WTO yesterday came out with a report saying that ending government subsidies to energy, fishing, and farming industries could give a big boost to environmental protection. In a set of recommendations for the WTO’s 134 member […]