Climate Technology
All Stories
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New clean-energy coalitions talk up national security and the economy
Two ambitious clean-energy coalitions made headlines this month, sweeping out from under the rug vital and far-reaching environmental issues that the Bush administration has steadfastly ignored. The Energy Future Coalition, boasting endorsements from heavies on both sides of the party line as well as from high-profile industry and environmental interests, called for a one-third reduction […]
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Weed Between the Lines
In a finding that undermines one key argument in favor of genetically modified (GM) crops, researchers at Iowa State University have discovered that a number of “superweeds” have developed a resistance to Monsanto’s widely used Roundup herbicide. Monsanto has engineered crops that are tolerant of Roundup, the idea being that the chemical would kill everything […]
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Who needs Superfund when we’ve got reality TV?
By the end of the year, only $28 million will be left in the U.S. EPA’s Superfund account. Superfund pays for the reclamation of abandoned toxic-waste sites, and $28 million barely affords a study just to figure out how to clean up one of the 1,200 deserted dumps wasting away in American communities. Money’s tight […]
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Standing the Rules on Their Ear
More farmers are failing to comply with the rules for planting genetically modified (GM) corn than the biotechnology industry claims, according to a new study of government data. Almost 20 percent of U.S. farms growing BT corn, the main type of GM corn, violate the rules for doing so, according to the Center for Science […]
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Yes-kia
The World Wildlife Fund plans to teach the 50,000 employees of telecommunications giant Nokia how to be good environmentalists, the conservation organization announced yesterday. In a groundbreaking partnership, WWF will provide seminars and workshops on environmental issues and create environmental interest-group areas on the company’s internal computer network. Nokia Vice President Veli Sundback said the […]
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Camarooned
By the end of this year, hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil will flow through pipelines in Chad and Cameroon, bringing about $2.5 billion and $500 million to the two countries, respectively. But critics say those profits won’t help the region’s poorest and neediest, even though the project’s major players — an ExxonMobil-led […]
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Hal Clifford reviews Cruise Ship Blues by Ross Klein
For all intents and purposes, during the summer, it is the 45,000 people found on the dozens of cruise ships that ply that state's southeastern coastal waters. And the effects of that "city" on the natural environment are indeed urban, in the worst imaginable ways.
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Don’t Bank on It
A coalition of U.S. and European banks are adopting new principles to guide the financing of projects, especially in the developing world. But environmentalists say the “Equator Principles” will not prevent the banks (which include Citigroup, Holland’s ABN Amro Holding, Britain’s Barclays, and Germany’s WestLB) from backing projects that lead to the destruction of rainforests, […]
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Air Care
With the feds having fallen down on the job, the California state Senate stepped in yesterday to keep up the fight against air pollution. The state Senate voted to add New Source Review rules to the state’s clean-air regulations — the same type of rules that the Bush administration did away with on a national […]
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The Price Pump Is Right
A growing number of California businesses are taking steps to become more eco-friendly, and are saving money in the process, according to a new survey conducted by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board. One example is the Price Pump Co. in Sonoma, which has switched to more environmentally conscious packaging, using brown boxes instead of […]