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  • The Fine Line

    British Polluters Undeterred by Penalties Some of the biggest and best known companies in the United Kingdom are also some of its worst polluters — but neither financial penalties nor shame seem able to keep them in line, according to the Environment Agency’s fifth annual Spotlight report on the environmental violations of companies in England […]

  • Genetically modified animals could make it to your plate with minimal testing — and no public input

    Last January, inspectors with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paid a visit to the University of Illinois, where researchers have been studying the DNA of pigs. The pig project, based in Champaign-Urbana, is one of dozens of experiments being conducted across the country in which scientists are altering the genetic structure of animals in […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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.

  • 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, […]

  • 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 […]