Climate Culture

Plugging developing nations into renewable energy

The groaning has largely subsided over last month’s World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, but one of the biggest disappointments of the event still deserves scrutiny: the failure to create a strategy to disseminate renewable energy throughout the developing world. “The Johannesburg summit’s plan for renewable energy has two fundamental flaws — […]

Threatened sea turtles find allies in Baja

To be an endangered sea turtle near Punta Abreojos on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula is to be a lucky animal. In this remote fishing village, the local fishing cooperative cracks down on any member caught with a turtle. For the first offense, you lose fishing privileges for three months, and must instead don a hairnet and […]

You Can Judge a Food By Its Label

In a big step for the organic food industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is poised to roll out an official “USDA Organic” seal and launch a long-awaited national standard to replace the existing hodgepodge of state and private certification systems. Food will have to contain 95 percent organic ingredients to be eligible for the […]

My Big Fat Greek Survey

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou now knows what we’ve known all along: An online poll conducted for a private foundation he chairs found that there’s no better place for environmental news than on the Internet. The poll on the environment, involving more than 25,000 respondents in 175 countries, was launched at last month’s World Summit […]

One Giant Spring for Mankind

Last Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, the book that galvanized a generation of environmentalists and catapulted the movement out of the margins of American culture and into the political spotlight. The book also resulted in real policy changes: “Silent Spring” was a major factor in the creation […]

No Screen Savior

California Gov. Gray Davis (D) vetoed legislation yesterday that would have created a program to recycle electronic products and keep their hazardous components out of landfills. The high-tech industry strongly opposed the legislation, which would have levied a $10 recycling fee per new computer or television sold. Environmentalists, who say the veto reflects the political […]

This New House

No, it doesn’t involve skeet shooting while cross-country skiing; in the Solar Decathlon sponsored by the Department of Energy, university students are competing to design the best solar-powered home. The houses are being built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where together they will form a temporary solar village. The competing teams hail from […]

Thighmasters of the Universe

Bowl Game

In an effort to reconcile the problems posed by a growing population and shrinking water supplies, city councilors are contemplating a plan that would retrofit existing buildings with water-saving toilets. The Public Utilities Committee has recommended that the full council adopt a plan whereby builders would retrofit toilets to earn credits toward new building permits. […]

Feeling Gassy

Negotiators for the U.S. House and Senate have reached an agreement on new fuel-economy rules that would expand rather than decrease the country’s oil consumption. Under the agreement, automakers would continue to receive credits through the model year 2008 for manufacturing vehicles that can run on both ethanol and gasoline. These credits are used to […]