Climate Climate & Energy
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Umbra on driving in neutral
Dear Umbra, I have a question about getting the most miles per gallon. If you put your car into neutral at stops or going downhill, do you save any gas? My car is an automatic. JeffVerona, N.J. Dearest Jeff, Another great question we have all pondered. Louisa and her fellow mechanics thought you might save […]
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Spammed If You Do, Spammed If You Don’t
Breadfruit Trees Endangered by Climate Change and Western-Style Diet The breadfruit tree, which has long provided a dietary staple to residents of South Pacific islands, is in severe decline, experts say, threatened by climate change and, of all things, Spam. Breadfruit trees, with their shallow roots, are particularly vulnerable to storms and cyclones, which have […]
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Coal-hearted
New Stats On Energy Use in China Alarm Environmentalists The most populous country on the planet may also pose the biggest threat to the global climate, according to recently released statistics about coal production and consumption in China. Until a few months ago, many energy experts hoped that the nation would have a relatively limited […]
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Rumble in the Jungle
ChevronTexaco Faces Oil Pollution Trial in Ecuador One of the biggest oil pollution trials in history will get underway tomorrow in Ecuador, pitting oil giant ChevronTexaco against 30,000 residents of the Amazon rainforest who charge that a Texaco subsidiary dumped huge amounts of oily waste in their homeland from 1971 to 1992. The Ecuadorians say […]
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Smelter Skelter
Enviros Protest Massive Dam in Iceland Extreme weather and remote locations can’t stop the forward march of, uh, progress, as Iceland’s Karahnjukar dam shows. The dam, which will be Europe’s highest, is being built in a huge wilderness area, much to the dismay of environmentalists. They fear it will drown highland vegetation, change the groundwater […]
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No More Sulfuring in Silence
China Bans Coal Plants in Big Cities In a much-needed and long-awaited gambit to improve air quality and reduce acid rain, China has banned coal-fired power plants in major cities across the nation. The ban applies to Beijing, Shanghai, and 21 provincial capitals, which together produce approximately 60 percent of China’s sulfur dioxide emissions. Sulfur […]
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Salmon Chanted Evening
Historic Deal Will Help Atlantic Salmon in Maine In an unprecedented move intended to save plummeting populations of threatened Atlantic salmon, a coalition of environmental groups, government agencies, a Native American tribe, and a power company yesterday announced a plan to take down dams along the Penobscot River, Maine’s longest waterway. The project calls for […]
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Detroit Yuck City
Illegal Dumping Pushes Up Toxic Contamination in Great Lakes Toxic pollution in Great Lakes waterways has jumped 25 percent over the past six years, thanks at least in part to rampant illegal discharges from large industrial facilities and sewer plants. Meanwhile, government enforcement efforts on both the national and state levels are stagnating, meaning that […]
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Dead Heat
Global Warming May Be Killing 160,000 People a Year Climate change and its side effects may be killing about 160,000 people a year, with children in developing countries particularly vulnerable, according to a new report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization. By 2020, the annual number of […]
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Drowned and Out
Three Gorges Dam Causing Unexpected Pollution Problems Unexpected environmental problems are already cropping up at China’s Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower and construction project. After the dam went into operation in June, the reservoir behind it reached 443 feet and was supposed to stay at that level until 2006, but the Chinese government […]
