water pollution

Sea Ya!

Central Asia’s Aral Sea, which used to be the world’s fourth-largest lake, has shrunk so dramatically that it has split into two separate bodies of water. The two rivers that feed it were diverted in the 1960s to water cotton fields; now just a trickle reaches the sea, and much of that is contaminated by […]

Don’t Drink the Water

Israel and Palestine struggle over water in an arid land

Oil, namely the vast reserves in Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, is the cause of many of the broad geopolitical battles plaguing the Middle East. But it is access to water, a more fundamental resource, that is at the root of much of the bitter conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Blood and Water […]

Fuel for the City

Seeking to control sky-high summertime fuel prices, the U.S. EPA proposed new regulations for anti-smog gasoline yesterday. The EPA has been gradually phasing in a plan to combat summer smog in densely populated areas by mandating the use of cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline (RFG). The oil industry blames that plan for high prices at the pumps […]

In the Drink

The gasoline additive MTBE, a known carcinogen, has already leaked into 48 public wells that provide water to hundreds of thousands of Californians, according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis of state data. The additive is leaking from 1,189 underground storage tanks within 1,000 feet of public wells or drinking water aquifers, threatening the water […]

The Brown Lagoon

Lagoons of animal waste from large factory farms are threatening drinking water and recreational waters across the country, according to a report released Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Water Network. The groups want new lagoons to be banned and existing ones to be phased out within the next five years. […]

The More You Drive, the More You Toot?

Benefit from Dick Cheney's motivational speeches!

Foreign leaders, whom the Bushies have occasionally punctured in the hopes of finding oil, continue to complain about the White House’s recently released energy plan like little babies. Vice President Cheney has bravely turned their nagging on its ear, pointing out that foreigners often marry dogs and then eat them. Welcome to Cheney’s America. “Conservation […]

Perrier didn't reckon on an angry citizenry when it looked to expand into the Midwest

Escape to Wisconsin. Play in our lakes, fish our rivers, and cavort in the famously kitschy water parks of Wisconsin Dells. Just don’t try to take a drop of it home with you. Ninety-nine bottles of water on the wall. This, at least, is the stern message being sent by thousands of Wisconsin citizens to […]