Latest Articles
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Occidental Deaths?
The 5,000 members of the U’wa Indian tribe in Columbia have threatened to jump off a cliff to their deaths if Occidental Petroleum Corp. drills for oil in their ancestral territory. During the past week, tribal leaders and hundreds of activists have demonstrated outside Occidental’s Los Angeles headquarters and its annual shareholders meeting in Santa […]
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Delhi Order: Hold the Smog
India’s Supreme Court last week issued a landmark ruling requiring the government to crack down on auto pollution in New Delhi. New cars sold in the New Delhi area will have to meet European emission standards, and a strict limit on car sales will be put in place. Government officials say that more than half […]
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Peking into a Cleaner Future
China will let as many as 14 large state-owned coal mines go bankrupt this year and 400,000 miners lose their jobs as part of a plan to reduce financial losses at coal mines and curb pollution caused by coal. China also has plans to shut down 25,800 small coal mines and reduce overall coal output […]
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News Flash: Oil Industry Whines Again
Pres. Clinton proposed tough federal rules on Saturday to control pollution from cars and sport utility vehicles, ending an exemption that has allowed SUVs and light trucks to emit several times more smog-causing gases per mile than cars. The decision will force oil companies to slash sulfur content in fuel and automakers to design cleaner […]
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Scheming Sleuths Steal Seed Sample
Private investigators employed by Monsanto trespassed on a Canadian farmer’s property to take samples of his crops in hopes of gathering evidence for a lawsuit against him, according to court documents and interviews with involved parties. Monsanto accuses the farmer, Percy Schmeiser, of illegally saving and replanting the company’s high-tech, genetically engineered seeds instead of […]
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2 x CO2 = 3.5 Feet
Climate change may boost ocean levels by about 3.5 feet by 2550, according to Jerry Mahlman of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Mahlman’s computer model assumes that by 2050, carbon dioxide concentrations will be double what they were in the 1700s and then stabilize at that level because of conservation measures. Mahlman stresses that […]
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A review of 'Use Less Stuff' by Robert Lilienfeld and William Rathje
Robert Lilienfeld and William Rathje have compiled a resolutely accessible guide to curbing consumption in Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are. The authors founded Use Less Stuff Day, celebrated since 1994 on the Thursday preceding Thanksgiving, in an attempt to convince consumers to change their wasteful ways, and this book is a how-to manual for implementing the principles of the holiday.
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A review of 'The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices'
Michael Brower and Warren Leon aim to distinguish their book, The Consumer Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists, from other laundry-list-like enviro books by telling readers which purchasing and lifestyle choices pack the greatest environmental punch. In contrast to volumes that bombard readers with 50, 100, or 1001 steps that they can take to spare the earth, Brower and Leon lay out 11 "priority actions," urging Americans to give careful consideration to, for example, the cars they drive, the appliances in their homes, and the amount of meat in their diets. At the same time, the authors tell readers to stop fretting over relatively minor issues such as the occasional disposable cup tossed in the trash and the paper-versus-plastic quandary.
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Don't Worry, the Frogs Are Just Bored
An outbreak in recent years of deformities in frog legs may be caused by a simple parasite found in nature rather than by chemical pollution, according to two new studies published today in the journal Science. The new research, conducted on Pacific tree frogs in California, suggests that limb deformities are caused by a tiny […]
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New Nukes Nuked
China has squelched plans to begin any new nuclear power projects in the next three years because the Asian economic crisis has cut into electricity demand, a Chinese nuclear industry official said yesterday. But the halt is expected to be temporary. “This does not mean bleak prospects for nuclear power development in China,” the official […]
