Climate Politics
All Stories
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Backdraft
Citing the need to reduce fire danger after a season of devastating wildfires, President Bush is planning to propose more extensive thinning of Western forests and support legislation to streamline environmental rules that have slowed down some logging projects in the region. Most Western governors back the plan to thin forests, but environmental groups say […]
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Down Underachievers?
The environmental situation is not looking up in the land down under, according to a new report commissioned by a consortium of conservation organizations. Noting such environmental problems as loss of species and their habitats, degradation of inland waters, and high pollution levels from the burning of fossil fuels, the report calls Australia “a continent […]
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No Island Is an Island
Climate change was the leading concern at the annual Pacific Island Forum this week, where leaders of small island nations chastised the United States for abandoning the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The islands have an unusually vested interest in the protocol because they face a high risk of being swallowed up by seas swollen […]
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Burned
In addition to scorching millions of acres of habitat and killing wildlife, the fires that have raged throughout the western U.S. this summer have taken another toll on the environment — a financial one. The federal government expects to spend more than $1.5 billion battling wildfires this year, and millions of those dollars will come […]
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Absence Makes Some Hearts Grow Fonder
By all appearance, President Bush will not be attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of the month — much to the delight of his conservative allies. “We applaud your decision not to attend the summit,” read a letter signed by more than 30 conservative […]
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To Summit Up
A global report card issued by the United Nations just two weeks before an international environmental summit has given low marks to the world’s ecological condition. Among the report’s more shocking findings: Three million people die annually from air pollution, while more than 1 billion people — a sixth of the world’s population — lack […]
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Canyon of Worms
The Bush administration announced yesterday that energy companies will be allowed to expand oil and gas exploration beyond the boundaries of their leases at Canyons of the Ancients National Monument near Durango, Colo. The announcement marks the first time exploration has been permitted outside leased areas at a monument. Already, about 85 percent of the […]
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When Push Comes to Chevron
In a classic David-and-Goliath battle, women in southern Nigeria are taking on oil giants ChevronTexaco and Royal Dutch/Shell to demand more responsible environmental and social policies. Last week, hundreds of women blocked access to company offices in the latest of a month of all-women protests. The unusual demonstrations are gaining a reputation as one of […]
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Outward Boundary
In a federal lawsuit over the legality of a new Navy sonar system said to harm marine animals, the Bush administration is challenging the scope of one of the most important pieces of U.S. environmental legislation, the National Environmental Policy Act. The act requires federal agencies to review the environmental implications of their projects, but […]
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The Bush administration braces for eco-chaos
A series of internal White House memos obtained by Grist sheds light on the Bush administration’s private response to increasing reports of looming environmental crises. Contrary to popular opinion, it appears President Bush is far from oblivious to the spate of dire ecological warnings that have emerged in recent months. In fact, his family’s personal […]
