NRDC
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Two eco-leaders — one mainstream, one radical — debate the movement’s past and future
Eric Mann. When Eric Mann first encountered environmentalists, he saw them as a bunch of “arrogant, racist airheads.” When Frances Beinecke first encountered environmentalists, she felt she’d found her cause. Frances Beinecke. Nearly four decades later, both are tireless proponents of environmental sanity, but they work in very different ways. Mann is director of the […]
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Pombo eggs on mercury debate with controversial report
Pombo says: Eat up! House Resources Committee Chair Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) — longtime bete noire of the environmental community — cooked up what appears to be some fishy science in a report released last week titled “Mercury in Perspective: Fact and Fiction About the Debate Over Mercury” [PDF]. The report — written not by scientists […]
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Umbra on effective activism
Dear Umbra, If an environmentalist has about six hours per week to devote to activism, what should the person do to make the biggest, most positive impact? Some people (like myself) think that climate protection is a key leverage point — but is it? If yes, why, and what is the best way activists can […]
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New Republican leaders emerging in battle against climate change
Last week, an international task force co-chaired by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine) predicted a fast-approaching “point of no return” for climate change — possibly in as few as 10 years — after which the crisis and its symptoms will be irreversible. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). You probably didn’t read about it in the U.S. […]
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NRDC’s new Santa Monica building may be the most eco-friendly in the U.S.
Do you realize we are gathered in what must be the greenest building in the United States?” Natural Resources Defense Council Executive Director Frances Beinecke asked a crowd of well-scrubbed Californians gathered for the opening ceremony of the organization’s new SoCal headquarters in Santa Monica. Swilling mimosas and nibbling croissants on the building’s sunny, plant-strewn […]
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Okinawan sea life likely to suffer under Navy sonar deal
Every year, scuba divers make tens of thousands of excursions into the waters off Okinawa, Japan, drawn by the spectacular array of sea life on display. Soon, though, that sea life may be blasted out of the water by an unwelcome sonic barrage. The Okinawan coast is not clear. Photo: Jeff Shaw. Almost everywhere in […]
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William Shutkin reviews Bronx Ecology and Tilting at Mills
These are tough times for environmentalists, what with the Bush administration’s frontal assault on environmental policy, drastic funding cuts and layoffs in state environmental programs, and the aftermath of a war in Iraq fought, in the opinion of many, over our nation’s undying addiction to oil. It’s thus fitting, if somewhat disheartening, that along come […]
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Marching to a Different Beat
Enviros of different stripes disagree on a lot of issues, but many have lamented in unison the recent absence of a full-time environmental writer at the New York Times. Got a hot story in need of some serious national ink? Whom do you call? USA Today? The news mags? The networks? Sure — you call […]
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Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner
California State Senator and environmental booster Byron Sher (D) sent out invitations to a fundraiser recently and listed State Sen. Ray Haynes (R) among his supporters. Trouble is that Haynes is what you might call a movement conservative, given to labeling people like Sher “clean-air Nazis” and “environmental wackos.” Sher’s office explained the incident to […]
