The Gorillas Speak Out

She’s an unlikely video star, a 23-year-old primate with an 800-word vocabulary who weighs 280 pounds and eats more than 30 pounds of fruits and vegetables a day. Yet Koko, a lowlands Gorilla known throughout the world for her unusual ability to communicate with humans by sign language, recently made her first TV commercial. It’s a public service announcement (PSA) aimed at raising funds for the Gorilla Foundation, a nonprofit research organization that currently cares for Koko and two other gorillas in Woodside, California.

Last train to Chokesville

The ranks of the modern-day "hobo" are being thinned by pesticides. Train-hoppers break into freight cars filled with lima beans, wheat or rice in hopes of a comfortable ride. But because stowing away is illegal, most of it takes place at night, and the riders can’t read the posted warnings telling them that the loads have been treated with deadly pesticides.

Building in the Sun

Slender, genteel and white-haired, Elizabeth Hird is new to alternative energy trend-setting. She got into it unwittingly while trying to power her home on Outer Island, off the coast of Connecticut. Outer Island is more than a mile offshore, so running an underwater electrical cable from the mainland utlity is prohibitively expensive

Supermarket Sweeps

Gone are the days when green goods could only be found in health food and specialty stores. Now they’re filling the shelves of local supermarkets and corner groceries. These new products promise to work "the natural way," and often splash attention-getting symbols on claims on their labels, such as "We Care," "Non-Toxic," "Biodegradable," "100 percent Recycled," and "Recyclable"

Are there any healthy alternatives to sugar?

Perhaps since the diet crazes of the 1970s, Americans have been looking to cut back on their intake of sugar. And doctors couldn’t be happier, as they consider the prevalence of sugar in our society a root cause of numerous health problems, including the recent trends in obesity and adult onset diabetes.

What killed Colette Chuda?

Four years after their daughter’s death, James and Nancy Chuda are funding new research on the link between cancers and the environment.

The EPA on the Loose

A trip to ancient Indian ruins yields some bitter truths from past and present administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency, which is both politically embattled and stuck in bureaucratic inertia.

Seriously Green

These families don’t just talk about recycling – they live it, every day, even if it means unplugging from the grid.

New Wine from Old Bottles

Milk and soda producers are finding out that reuseable bottles make good economic sense. And satisfied customers agree.

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