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  • I Wish They All Could Be California Governors

    California Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed trailblazing legislation yesterday that will require automobile manufacturers to reduce the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions coming from the tailpipes of passenger vehicles in the state. Under the terms of the new law, the California Air Resources Board has until 2005 to set “maximum” but “economically feasible” emissions standards for […]

  • The Rainless Maker

    From 1970 to 1985, a wide swath of Africa lay under the siege of a brutal drought that ultimately left 1.2 million dead. Now, a group of scientists from Australia and Canada says the deadly drought may have been caused in part by pollution from factories and power plants in North America, Europe, and Asia. […]

  • Alcoa Can Wait

    And now, some news from a place you seldom hear about: Iceland, which is forming the backdrop for the latest skirmish in the battle between conservationists and power companies. The country’s Vatnajokull Glacier is Europe’s second-largest wilderness, and is graced with mountains, lakes, canyons, rivers, and abundant wildlife. Iceland’s national power company wants to harness […]

  • Right Tern

    Barge traffic could grind to a halt on a 250-mile stretch of the Missouri River, after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ruled last week that two endangered species of shorebirds cannot be moved to accommodate the release of water from two dams in South Dakota. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to release […]

  • Unbridled LUST

    Leaking underground storage tanks (LUST) of gasoline have contaminated at least 25,000 sites around Florida, giving rise to concerns that the state’s drinking water supplies could be tainted, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Scientists say the contamination is a result of Florida’s love affair with gas; the state ranks third, after California […]

  • Sick ’em

    Global climate change isn’t just going to make our planet hotter — it’s going to make it sicker. That was the finding of a wide-ranging study of world ecosystems, published in today’s issue of Science and showing that warmer temperatures have sparked a plague of epidemics in plants and animals. From oysters to oak trees, […]

  • Natural Born Watt Killers

    Are you one of those people who obsessively turns off lights and other electric appliances when leaving the room? If so, it might be time to look for a job with the State of New Hampshire, where Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) is now offering up to $10,000 to state employees who devise innovative ways to […]

  • Citizens battle to keep Delta County from becoming the coal bed methane capital of Colorado

    It started out as a simple item on a regional planning commission agenda in remote Delta County, Colo. A recently reworked natural gas well in Delta County. Photo: Jeremy Puckett, WSERC. But since that meeting on April 9, the possibility that up to 600 coal bed methane wells could be drilled here has whipped up […]

  • Climate change is, like, inevitable, dude

    Note: You’ll need Flash Player to watch the movie. If you don’t have it, download it now.

  • The Little Solar Station That Could

    The Columbia Generating Station, a nuclear power plant at Washington state’s Hanford nuclear reservation, sits just one mile from the White Bluffs Solar Station. For the past three weeks, Energy Northwest, the Pacific Northwest’s nuclear power producer, has been generating a tiny amount of electricity from solar panels at White Bluffs and selling it to […]