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The Death and Life of Yellow Creek

On a mild winter morning, Yellow Creek runs caramel brown behind larry and Sheila Wilson’s house, smelling of the earth, pungent and natural. The surface ripples over hidden rocks and breaks into tiiny white caps. From the porch it looks like a gentle wading creek, but as you cross the lawn you find that it is a powerful little river, full of muscle, racing ahead through this flat hollow to the next bend in the wooded mountains that have shaped five decades of Larry’s life. This is the heart of coal country. One small hill has laready been cut down soon. But for now the hollow seems at peace, slumbering in the brown shades of winter. The loud burbling of the creek blankets the yard. a great blue heron flies overhead. The damp air carries an acrid trace of coal smoke from a neighbor’s chimney.

Letter From Costa Rica

We are not often exposed, in this country, to acts of principled self-denial on the part of those far less fortunate than ourselves. America is a country seemingly obsessed with rights, demands and redress. Greed is presumed god, or at least neutral, when accompanied by a relative lack of wealth. So while the poor are, by virtue of their state, free of any need to justify avarice, many of us make special pains to do just that. Accumulation pervades life in the developed world so completely that much can be determined about our worldview by how much and how gracefully we consume.

Can Marketing Save the Rainforest?

Kathyrn Alexander saw the green light when she read an article about Cultural Survival, the indigenous-rights group based in Boston. "I was truly inspired," she remembers. Alexander is president of Tropical Botanicals, a California company that produces such sexy-sounding products as "Passionflower Massage Oil" and "Babacu Nut Body Lotion."

Maintaining Maine: A Rural Community Debates its Future

Harpswell, Maine is a small fishing community in the mid-coast region. One half of the town is narrow neck of land, jutting into Casco Bay, and the other, a string of three islands connected by bridges. As the town library puts it, "On the west is a single peninsula, Harpswell Neck, a thin finger of granite, pine and rolling meadows dotted with classic 19th century homes, a scattering of working farms, white churches of architectural perfection and the no-nonsense front yards of the Neck’s scores of working lobstermen." The townspeople are friendly, and most were born and grew up there. The town seems to consist of a couple of long, scenic roads, a few houses and some breathtaking views.

Congress Finally Formulates Compromise Energy Bill

After weeks of haggling over the details, a Congressional conference committee has finally come up with a compromise energy plan which it is ready for approval by a White House eager to enact the legislation.

GM Crops Lead to Herbicide-Resistant Superweed in UK

British agricultural scientists have found that a genetically modified (GM) variant of rapeseed has cross-fertilized with local wild charlock plants, creating a herbicide-resistant "superweed" in the process. The transformation of a plain charlock into a superweed is something scientists had thought to be "virtually impossible."

What makes a city a “mega-city” and what are the environmental implications?

Demographers define “mega-cities” as sprawling, crowded urban centers with populations topping 10 million. In 1995, 14 cities qualified as mega-cities; analysts predict that by 2015 there will be 21.

Where can I find green-friendly office products and back-to-school supplies?

Environmentally-friendly school and office products have been available for decades from specialty suppliers, but in recent years many recycled kinds of papers, pens, pencils, ink toner cartridges, binders, folders and desk accessories have become ubiquitous in mainstream office supply stores.

An Olive Branch

The Sierra Club’s climate campaigner, Dan Becker, routinely bashes the auto companies. Here’s a typical outburst, from PBS: "They churn out more and more gas-guzzling SUVs, so now we’re producing less-efficient cars on average than we were in 1980." Given his background, it was surprising to hear his kind words in a press release dated July 11: "For years," he said, "the Sierra Club has pressured Ford to make more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. They are now beginning to do that, and we want to help them succeed."

American Babies Born Polluted, Study Says

According to a report released last week by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG), American babies are born with an average of 287 chemical contaminants in their bloodstreams. The findings are based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical-cord blood taken by the American Red Cross across the country. The most prevalent chemicals found in the 10 newborns were mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.

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