Latest Articles
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The Latest News on the Ozone Layer
Twenty-five years ago, there appeared two scientific papers that rocked the industrial world. One of them, by Richard Stolarski and Ralph Cicerone, said that if chlorine atoms ever got wafted up into the stratosphere, they could eat up the ozone layer. The second, by Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland (who got the Nobel Prize for […]
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No Island Is an Island
Several dozen small island nations, which have banded together to raise awareness about their plight as climate change threatens their futures with rising seas and increasingly violent weather, will get a chance to voice their fears in a special session of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27 and 28. The nations will once again […]
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Razing Arizona
Fourteen months before voters head to the polls, a brawl is already brewing in Arizona over proposed ballot initiatives that aim to deal with sprawl. The Sierra Club is sponsoring an initiative that would impose mandatory urban boundaries and development controls throughout the state. Last week, political appointees delivered an opposing business-backed package of growth […]
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Meanwhile, Kansas Wants a National Adam-and-Eve Day
An unusual coalition of environmentalists, big business, labor organizations, and consumer advocacy groups is banding together against proposed legislation that would make it harder for the federal government to preempt the states with nationwide standards on the environment and a range of other issues. In an effort to shift political power back to the states, […]
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Stop POPs Before We Drop
Talks began yesterday in Geneva on a global treaty to control or ban 12 toxic chemicals known as “the dirty dozen,” including DDT, dioxin, and PCBs. Enviros are pressing negotiators to move quickly to ban the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which break down extremely slowly, are absorbed into the food chain, and have been linked […]
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Once More into the Breach
Federal officials are considering delaying a recommendation on whether or not to breach four dams on the lower Snake River to help save salmon. Some breaching advocates are saying the delay is a political move, designed to keep the highly controversial issue from interfering with Al Gore’s presidential campaign. The National Marine Fisheries Service had […]
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How About Genetically Modified French Waiters?
French Pres. Jacques Chirac said yesterday that France will stand firm in its opposition to genetically modified foods at the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization, to be held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3. The contentious issue of whether or not to include genetically modified food on the meeting’s agenda has […]
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Norwaves
Norway’s state oil company, Statoil, is considering a massive project that would convert unwanted offshore oil platforms into pollution-free power plants that derive electricity from the movement of ocean waves. Oil platforms in the deep waters off Norway include some of the world’s tallest structures, and dismantling them could cost billions of dollars. At the […]
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Super, Market to the World!
In a blow to proponents of biotechnology, Archer-Daniels-Midland, one of the largest grain processors in the U.S., is telling its corn and soybean suppliers to begin segregating genetically modified crops from conventional crops. The company’s shift is a clear sign that the consumer backlash over genetically modified crops in Europe and Asia is beginning to […]
