Buying Cleaner Energy

Turning off unused lights, insulating your house and buying energy-efficient appliances are all great ways to save energy, which decreases air pollution and saves you money in the process. And if everyone were truly conservation-minded, we would save thousands of megawatt-hours of electricity every day. But now you can go a step further, and without buying any equipment or making any changes to your house you can purchase clean energy from non-polluting sources (you’ve got to keep your soymilk cold somehow). The problem is, not many people are choosing "green power," though it’s available in every state.

Cities of the Future

By 2007, 3.2 billion people
a number larger than the entire global population of 1967
will live in cities. Developing countries will absorb nearly all of the world¹s population increases between today and 2030. The urban growth rate of 1.8 percent for 2000 to 2030 will double the number of city dwellers in less than 30 years. Meanwhile, rural populations are growing scarcely at all. In this cover story, E profiles some of the world¹s largest and most environmentally challenged megacities.

Cities of the Future (Continued)

Today’s "Mega-cities" are Overcrowded and Environmentally Stressed Lagos, Nigeria In 1950, with just 288,000 people, Lagos wasn’t even a speck on the map of the largest urban centers. Today, the rapidly growing city of 14 million in Africa’s most populous country is on its way to becoming the third-largest city in the world. By 2015, […]

Smoke, Mirrors and Pain at the Pumps

In my last column in this space, I looked at how the Bush administration had weakened the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law, and failed to close a loophole by which the largest trucks and SUVs weighing 8,500 pounds or more are exempt from any federal regulation. "At a time when Americans are paying record prices for gas, the Bush Administration has sided with its cronies in the auto industry and rejected real solutions," says Dan Becker of the Sierra Club.

Internet Trade in Exotic Animals Threatens Endangered Species

According to a recently released study by the U.K. chapter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a booming Internet trade in exotic animal parts is hastening the extinction of a host of endangered wildlife species around the world. The report, "Caught in the Web, Wildlife Trade on the Internet," cites hundreds of examples of live primates and thousands of rare animal products–for the most part the product of illegal poaching–for sale via websites (such as eBay.com) over the course of just one recent week.

Greens Worried About Roberts’ Environmental Stance

No doubt, the Bush administration relished the opportunity to put a conservative judge by the name of John Roberts on the Supreme Court last month. And it is no surprise that environmentalists digging into Roberts’ stands in previous cases do not like what they are finding.

A Green Agenda for Cities

More than 70 mayors and other local leaders from around the world have signed the Urban Environmental Accords, 21 ambitious—but non-binding—sustainability goals. They pledged specifically to work toward getting 10 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2012, extending public transit to within a quarter mile of all city residents by 2015, reducing greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2030 and achieving zero municipal waste by 2040.

Saving Sealife

In the spring of 1984, Peter Wallerstein received a phone call about an adult whale and her calf struggling to free themselves from the cutting confines of a gill net. Many of his previous phone calls to the Los Angeles city authorities had gone unanswered, and Wallerstein, then director of the Sea Shepherd Society, decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.

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