Latest Articles

Dead in the Water

The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has doubled in size since last year to 7,728 square miles, larger than it’s ever been before — and larger than New Jersey. The dead zone, a layer of water at the bottom of the Gulf so low in oxygen that it can’t support life, forms annually, […]

Coke Ain't It

Coca-Cola has reneged on a promise to use recycled plastic in its bottles, an environmental group charged this week. The GrassRoots Recycling Network, an umbrella organization for some 400 enviro groups, criticized Coke in an ad in Monday’s New York Times, and plans to run a series of similar ads in various other publications. In […]

Bright ideas for saving energy

Power plants and climate change have been on the minds of many consumers who lost electrical service and sweated out the record-breaking temperatures that recently hit areas across the country. Most experts believe the planet’s temperature has been rising as a result of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, […]

Two Mindsets, Two Visions of Sustainable Agriculture

“I guess you must be in favor of pesticides,” concluded a Monsanto public relations guy, after I objected to his company’s genetically engineered potato. “I guess it’s okay with you if people starve,” said a botanist I deeply respect, with whom I have carried out a fervent argument about genetic engineering. Accusations like these astonish […]

Protecting the Apples of Our Eye

Citing health risks to children, the EPA yesterday restricted the use of two pesticides widely used on apples and other crops. But enviros say the agency has bowed to industry pressure and failed to crack down on the most dangerous pesticides. The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups plan to sue the EPA […]

The Squad of Small Slings

Thousands of Indians joined author Arundhati Roy and other activists Sunday in the central Indian village of Pathrad to protest dam projects that they say would uproot local people. The Maheshwar Hydel Project, a dam under construction by a private company, would submerge 61 villages, including Pathrad. Another construction plan, the Narmada Valley Development project, […]

Quoth the Raven, "Endeavor More"

Unless we act quickly and decisively, one-third of the plant species on Earth could go extinct within 50 years, Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, said yesterday at a conference of the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis, Mo. Among Raven’s recommendations is the creation of a new political entity, probably under the […]

A Buttload of Energy

The Department of Energy is putting $5 million into a project to transform manure, sewage, food wastes, and agricultural leftovers into electric power. A pilot plant is expected to process up to 100 tons a day of waste, which will be combined into a low-cost, energy-rich combustible slurry that could be used cleanly in conventional […]

Timber Sales Get the Ax

The feds broke the law when they awarded nine timber contracts in the Northwest that failed to protect rare and endangered species as stipulated under the Northwest Forest Plan, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The judge — the same one who halted timber sales over the northern spotted owl — sided with 13 enviro groups […]

Is It Time for Recess Yet, Mr. Vice President?

Vice Pres. Al Gore yesterday warned a group of fifth graders that more heat waves are likely in the future because of global warming and told the kids that Republicans in Congress were blocking funds that could help save the environment. Gore and Bill Nye, who hosts a TV science program for kids, unveiled new […]