Climate Politics
All Stories
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Over and Out
“The Bush administration won this ballgame 44-0.” That was how Brandon MacGillis, a spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based National Environmental Trust, summed up the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which wraps up today in Johannesburg, South Africa. Like MacGillis, many greens saw the 10-day conference as a step backward or, at best, a stalemate, with […]
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Sin Diesel
Long-term exposure to diesel exhaust probably triggers a wide range of respiratory illnesses and causes lung cancer, according to a study released yesterday by the U.S. EPA. Based on decades of research, the study found “persuasive” evidence that the diesel engines operating on highways, farms, and construction sites around the country are hazardous to human […]
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Fire Him
Allan Fitzsimmons, the man chosen by the Bush administration to head its wildfire prevention program, does not believe in ecosystems and says the extinction of threatened and endangered species would not be a crisis. Fitzsimmons was tasked last week with reducing fire danger on Interior Department lands through the newly formed Healthy Forests Initiative, but […]
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Hoopa It Up!
In a movement that could change the course of U.S. land management, Native Americans are pushing for laws that would give them veto power over development projects on historically sacred sites. Despite fierce opposition to granting Native Americans such power, especially on non-reservation land, the legal push has made some headway: A bill is nearing […]
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Look who’s missing in Johannesburg
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Mr. Green Jean
One North American leader attending the summit in Johannesburg — Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien — took significant steps toward establishing his green legacy at home yesterday by unveiling a major expansion of the national parks system and promising to ratify the Kyoto Protocol by the end of the year. His plan to create 10 […]
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Hazing Ritual
It might be officially nicknamed the Golden State, but sometimes, it’s more like the Yellowish-Brown State: California continues to lead the U.S. in dirty air, with nearly twice as many “smog days” as any other state in the union, a recent report by an environmental group found. According to the study of government air-quality data […]
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The Empire Strikes Back
Apparently sick of playing the bad guy at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the U.S. struck back yesterday, proclaiming itself “the world’s leader in sustainable development.” To bolster that claim, U.S. delegates in Johannesburg announced joint government and private-sector initiatives, including a $53 million effort to protect forests in the Congo Basin and $43 […]
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Marketing the revolution in clean energy
Last month, 10 solar-powered race cars zipped around a 1.5-mile NASCAR track at the legendary Texas Motor Speedway, some of them reaching the dizzying speed of 35 miles per hour. With all its technological novelty and timely political implications, the Dell and Winston Solar Challenge (named for the computer and cigarette companies that sponsored it) […]
