Latest Articles
-
![]()
![]()
An excerpt from Seven Wonders: Everyday Things for a Healthier Planet by John C. Ryan
When the Dalai Lama of Tibet met with economist John Kenneth Galbraith, he asked the Harvard professor a simple but penetrating question: "What would the world be like if everyone drove a motor car?" The Tibetan leader probably did not intend it, but his question constitutes a koan, a paradoxical riddle of Zen Buddhist tradition. A koan has no logical answer -- "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" -- but the search for a solution may lead to a flash of enlightenment.
-
Just Say "Nein" to Pollution
Air and water pollution are the top environmental concerns for Europeans, according to a European Commission survey, the largest of its kind to date. Ground pollution and the destruction of the ozone layer also ranked high up, while genetically modified foods were further down the list. Seven out of 10 people viewed the environment as […]
-
You Can't Teach an Old Power Plant New Tricks
Emissions from New England’s 14 oldest power plants have increased for the third consecutive year, according to a report by environmental groups. The old plants aren’t held to the same standards as new ones because of a loophole in the Clean Air Act. In other dirty power plant news, the six New England states and […]
-
Bosom Buddies
A coalition of members of Congress, health professionals, and women’s advocates yesterday sent a letter to Pres. Clinton demanding more money for research into potential environmental causes of breast cancer. The group wants further research into factors that might increase risk for the disease, including exposure to some fuels, plastics, detergents, pesticides, and pharmaceutical drugs. […]
-
Set Aside This Insecticide
One of the most popular insecticides used around the home poses a health risk, the EPA is expected to announce today. A panel of pesticide experts at the agency is calling for tighter controls on the chemical, Dursban. Dow AgroSciences makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year from sales of Dursban, which is used […]
-
Last Roundup?
The Yanacona Indians in Colombia are fighting to be able to pull up and destroy tens of thousands of poppy plants by hand rather than have police airplanes spray the land around them with herbicides as part of the war on drugs. The Yanacona say spraying, which often involves the herbicide Roundup, has caused sickness […]
-
Dune and Gloom
A coalition of enviro groups sued the feds yesterday for failing to protect public lands in Utah from damage by off-road vehicles (ORV), including dune buggies and cross-country motorcycles. A recent study by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance found widespread ORV damage on public lands in the state, including areas being considered for wilderness designation. […]
-
Twenty
• percentage of all endangered and threatened species in the U.S. that are harmed by grazing • number of plant species that provide 90 percent of the world’s food supply • percent by which wind power production has grown per year since 1990 • percentage of Earth’s original forests that remain pristine and undisturbed • […]
-
Dam, That Was Brave
Ten enviro activists riled up the British by staging a daring protest yesterday on the world’s largest ferris wheel, which is under construction in central London and is scheduled to open on New Year’s Eve. The enviros, from the Basque group Solidarios con Itioz and the Indian organization Narmada, were demonstrating against major dam projects […]
-
To Russia, With Love
As delegates from 150 nations gather in Bonn, Germany, this week to hammer out some details on the Kyoto climate change agreement, Russia is pushing for a system that would allow it to sell permits for carbon dioxide emissions. Under Kyoto, Russia is supposed to maintain its CO2 emissions at 1990 levels, but the post-Soviet […]
