Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
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Foot-in-mouth Disease?
Dealing a blow to advocates of natural resource extraction in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, biologists working for the U.S. Geological Survey have produced a report finding that oil and gas drilling in the refuge could substantially threaten caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, migrating birds, and other wildlife. Although the report acknowledges that the risk […]
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Wheels in the Sky Keep on Turning
Solar power might be popular in Salem, Ore., but wind is the world’s fastest growing energy source, powering 10 million homes around the globe, according to a report issued yesterday by European, American, and Indian wind energy associations. Last year, wind turbine installations increased by 45 percent, or some 6,500 megawatts. Europe, long the leader […]
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For Peat’s Sake
As a source of fossil fuel and gardening compost, peat bogs, those eminently British landscape features, are highly in demand — so much so that some environmentalists fear they are in danger of disappearing. But that danger might be staved off for a while, thanks to a multi-million dollar plan to use taxpayer money to […]
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Grim Reefer
Coral reefs are usually associated with the balmy blue waters of the tropics, but the amazing underwater kingdoms exist in cooler climes, too — at least for now. A new study by French, British, and Norwegian scientists found that 4,500-year-old reefs in the northeastern Atlantic are severely threatened by deep-sea fishing. The scientists found gouges […]
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Silicon Death Valley
Nineteenth century labor conditions and 21st century technology are clashing in impoverished areas of Asia, where millions of tons of obsolete high-tech gear are shipped from the U.S. to be stripped of valuable parts. The practice, which is highly dangerous for both workers and the environment, is documented in a new report released today by […]
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The After-kla-math
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has determined that there was “no sound scientific basis” for the federal government’s decision to deny irrigation water to more than 1,000 farms in Oregon’s Klamath Basin during last summer’s drought. A panel of 12 independent scientists, convened at the behest of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, concluded that there […]
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Great Bitten?
Large parts of England and Wales are at risk of becoming breeding grounds for malaria as global warming heats up local temperatures, according to a study by Durham University scientists commissioned by the Brits’ Department of Health. Increased temperatures encourage mosquitoes to breed and feed more rapidly, and they speed up the maturation of the […]
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Chairwoman of the Boardwalk
The U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System could get a $56.5 million budget increase in the next fiscal year, according to an announcement made yesterday by Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The proposed increase would represent an 18 percent budget hike and would be earmarked for maintenance and renovation of such features as boardwalks, trails, and levies. […]
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Michelle Nijhuis reviews Power Politics by Arundhati Roy
When your first novel wins the Booker Prize, sells 6 million copies, and earns you a publicity trip around the world, what do you do next? Arundhati Roy, author of the 1997 novel The God of Small Things, decided she wanted to switch from fiction to the hard facts. A year after Roy’s big debut, […]
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Deep Sea Diving
As if all the political strife weren’t enough, here’s more grim news from the Middle East: The Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, is getting even lower. In the last decade, the sea, which already lies more than 1,300 feet below sea level, has fallen an additional 20 feet. Scientists attribute the change to […]
