Latest Articles
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Look for the Onion Label
As controversy over genetically modified crops mounts, a federal task force will report by the end of July on whether genetically engineered foods should be labeled so consumers know what they’re getting. The biotech industry complains that such labeling would be expensive and unnecessary. Meanwhile, a National Academy of Sciences panel is conducting a review […]
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The Jury's In
Property rights advocates had cause to celebrate yesterday as the Supreme Court ruled that landowners who sue local governments over their land use regulations can be entitled to a jury trial. The case concerned a California developer whose plans to build a residential complex were rejected by the City of Monterey, which said the beachfront […]
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Prairie, the New Home Companion
Across the Midwest, the preservation and restoration of prairie lands are all the rage. In Kansas, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, one of the newest national parks, is gearing up for thousands of hiking tourists this summer, and a push is on to create another tall-grass prairie national park in Iowa. In Illinois, prairie boosters […]
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Toxicistan
The U.S. plans to spend as much as $6 million to help Uzbekistan dismantle and clean up one of the former Soviet Union’s biggest chemical weapons testing labs. Only after Uzbekistan gained its independence in 1991 did Uzbek officials learn of the severe pollution that resulted from the Soviet Union’s use of the region as […]
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Salton Wounds Not So Bad
The Salton Sea in inland southern California, long thought to be virtually dead, is in better environmental health than expected, according to a preliminary report released last week. Common wisdom holds that the sea is being poisoned by pesticide runoff from surrounding farmland, but though the researchers expected to find elevated levels of pesticides, herbicides, […]
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Pollinators making a run for the border
When most of us hear of undocumented border crossings between Mexico and the western United States, we immediately think of devastating social problems: refugees fleeing poverty and political oppression, or drug runners laundering money and offering controlled substances to our children. I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a bee. And […]
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Elise Richer, Urban Institute
Elise Richer plays center halfback for the Flanders Football Club and does social policy research for the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. Monday, 24 May 1999 WASHINGTON, D.C. Defining a neighborhood is difficult. Residents living physically near each other often conceptualize their neighborhoods completely differently, depending on the local paths and people which populate their […]
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Never Mind Paper Vs. Plastic Bags. How Did You Get to the Grocery Store?
Finally! A sensible list of things we can do to save the planet! Discussion on this topic has been muddled since the 50 Simple Things book came out years ago. It was a well-meant list and a very popular one. Its sales showed that millions of folks, especially young folks, are willing to change their […]
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Enviros Mobil-ize to Put the Nix on Exxon
Enviro groups plan to oppose the proposed merger of Mobil and Exxon at the companies’ annual meetings this week out of fears that Mobil’s more conciliatory stance on climate change will be x-ed out if Exxon gets regulatory clearance to buy Mobil for $75 billion. Mobil was initially critical of the Kyoto climate change treaty, […]
