United States

Everything's changed, including zero-down financing

Hey fellow Americans, now that bio-terrorism, federalized airport security, and military star-chambers are becoming a reality, what do you plan to do? Me, I’m going to Disneyland. Okay, maybe not Disneyland, but I have been to New York, Montana, and Oregon recently — and by plane. I’m also thinking about buying a new computer. I […]

Behind the scenes at the Bush administration's renewable energy summit

Ever since the White House declared energy independence a matter of national security, some unlikely evangelists in the Bush administration have been belting out the clean energy gospel. Case in point: Last week, Gale Norton presided over the first national renewable energy summit in history, co-hosted by the Departments of Interior and Energy. Gale Norton. […]

Domestic oil and gas is not the ticket to U.S. energy security

America’s fragile domestic infrastructure threatens her energy security at least as much as dependence on oil from the Middle East. Replacing oil from that region with even more vulnerable domestic systems would therefore decrease energy security. Stranger than science fiction. Extraordinarily concentrated energy flows invite and reward devastating attack. In our 1982 Pentagon study Brittle […]

The U.S. should take a cue from nature in its fight against terrorism

The political reshuffling in the U.S. could help the environment

It is impossible to conceive of human acts as wholly devoid of humanity as last month’s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The nation is reeling, emotionally stranded by confusion, shared suffering, and a stunningly new sense of danger. But if something good has come out of this paroxysm of grief and alarm it […]

Precedent of the United States

A federal judge dismissed an effort by the timber industry and users of off-road vehicles (ORVs) to overturn former President Clinton’s order to designate 328,000 acres of federal land in California’s Sierra Nevada as Giant Sequoia National Monument. The plaintiffs challenged the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the authority to establish monuments. They […]

Momentum grows for greener ways of farming

Rice as rice can be. In the humid hills of China’s Yunnan province, rice farmers make their living from plots of land smaller than many American yards. High, cool, and wet, the country here is rich, yielding almost a thousand pounds of rice per acre. But farmers face a perennial scourge: rice blast. Rice blast […]

Has Bush done the environment a favor with his extreme agenda?

Oh, it’s getting fun. As Congress prepares to reconvene next week, the question is not whether the White House will adjust its strategy on the environment, but how. When President Bush and his congressional allies went home for vacations this month, the message they heard away from the Beltway was consistent: The administration’s approach on […]

A review Fast Food Nation

Given my distaste for fast food and the general knowledge of its detrimental effect on the American diet, I didn't expect to find any revelations in Fast Food Nation. But journalist Eric Schlosser's thoroughly researched and well-written probe into the industry that has transformed American roadsides, eating patterns, and agriculture was actually an eye-opener.