An Oregon wood preserving plant treats utility poles, railroad ties, marine pilings and other industrial-use wood with pesticides that protect it from rot and decay. The chemicals they use do not only smell bad. Along with a host of associated health effects ranging from skin irritation to birth defects, the three most commonly used wood preservatives have been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as known or probable human carcinogens.
Once relatively neglected in relation to such A-list Hollywood concerns as rainforests, the increasingly dire plight of the oceans is now attracting the attention of researchers, environmentalists, regular folks and even some celebrities anxious to learn more about and help protect marine ecosystems. Until relatively recently, the only way to find out what was happening beneath the waves was to watch The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, but now there is a host of organizations and websites about ocean issues.
Congress adopted the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976. In the years since, fisheries management in the U.S. has not been a complete failure. More than half of the known, managed, major fish species in U.S. waters are not overfished. But critics might argue that to declare that a success would be to set a very low bar; and there is also no avoiding the occasional and spectacular disasters that have occurred on the councils" watch.
Early in 2005, scientists unveiled compelling evidence that human activity is causing the oceans to heat up, a finding with troubling implications for life on both sides of the ocean’s surface.
Given that “what goes up must come down,” balloons released into the air—whether by accident or in large quantities at events—eventually end up as trash on the ground or in bodies of water. In addition—and as any wildlife or marine mammal protection organization will tell you—spent balloons are dangerous to animals,
A lot of people are worrying about the world’s oceans these days, but the federal government could be doing so much more to head off a marine cataclysm…
Rod Fujita, an Oakland, California-based senior scientist with Environmental Defense who was instrumental in setting up marine reserves in the Florida Keys and the Channel Islands of California, is the author of Heal the Ocean: Solutions for Saving Our Seas (New Society Publishers). He is the recipient of a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation and serves on the National Marine Protected Areas Advisory Committee.
World Environment Day was celebrated June 5 in San Francisco, the first time it was held in the U.S. The event commemorates the anniversary of the first World Conference on the Environment in Stockholm in 1972. The organizer of that meeting, Maurice Strong, has been an energy-sector CEO, an adviser to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the convener of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Everyone’s familiar with the concept of the "open house," but suppose instead of McMansions you could visit only energy-efficient homes heated by solar or geothermal energy, with electricity provided by the wind? Sounds like an alternate universe, right? Well, you actually can go on such a magical journey when the Colorado-based American Solar Energy Society sponsors the National Solar Tour.
With 120 green or "living roofs" built or planned citywide, including one on City Hall, Chicago is pioneering a trend that has taken off across North America. The impetus came from Mayor Richard M. Daley, a proponent of green technology who was impressed by the green roofs he saw when traveling in Europe—where they’ve been built for 30 years and have become commonplace. "Building green roofs "is a very important initiative for the mayor," says Chicago Green Projects Administrator Michael Berkshire, an urban planner.
