She-crab soup arrives at restaurant tables on North Carolina's Outer Banks as a rich, sweet concoction, delighting tourists and new residents whose cars still boast license plates from their old states: Florida, Ohio, New York. As the ocean breezes sweep away the day-to-day worries of beach-bound visitors, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) scientist Doug Rader realizes the days of the regional soup may be numbered. It's a simple axiom: No wetlands, no seafood.
Aromatic Products May Pollute Indoor Air and Your Health The same health-conscious homeowner who would never dream of allowing cigarette smoke inside the house might be burning aromatherapy candles with the idea that they promote a healthy, relaxing atmosphere. But burning candles could actually have the opposite effect: Scientific testing has shown that candles can […]
Picking the Greenest Funds Choosing the right mutual fund isn’t as easy as looking at a chart and writing a check to the firm with the highest numbers. Everyone wants a winner, but it’s important to remember that performance numbers don’t tell the full story—even among socially-conscious funds. Many, for example, rack up high returns […]
Dirty Canals, Organic Farms and Mud Flats Offer Low-Impact Fun Schlerrp. Schlerrp. Schlerrp. Thigh-deep in rich brown mud, tourists in the Waddenzee note the salty tang to the air, the distant sea, and the shrieking gulls protecting a nearby nest. A guide, garbed in bright yellow, red and blue and leaning on a wooden staff, […]
Biologist Sandra Steingraber, Ms. magazine’s 1997 “Woman of the Year,” has been called “a poet with a knife,” cutting through the dry data of environmental contamination with a sharp wit reminiscent of Rachel Carson
The Race to Develop Caspian Sea Oil May Steam Right Over the Environment The premise of Tom Clancy’s “Force 21,” a post-cold war computer game, is that the planet is on the verge of a Third World War over the Caspian Sea oil fields. Why such high-stakes maneuvering over this salty inland ocean, the world’s […]
Grandmothers, schoolteachers, scientists and environmentalists have taken to the streets in London. Through massive letter-writing campaigns and the destruction of field test sites, British citizens have shown their displeasure at the prospect of eating genetically engineered (GE) foods. Though opposition to GE foods is growing all over Europe, it is especially acute in Great Britain. […]
Giant Petrels are a Bellwether Species for the Threatened Antarctic Peninsula Giant Petrels are large scavenger birds that feed on dead seals, whales, penguins, squid or just about any other creature that dies on Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, which is why 19th Century sailors called them “Bone Shakers.” They also named them “Stinkers” since, when challenged, […]
A Many-Headed Student Group Gets Out the Green Vote In recent years, young voters have deafened pollsters with their silence, heralding the arrival of what could be seen as a new silent majority for our time. In the 1994 congressional elections, only 15 percent of eligible young people voted. The Center for Environmental Citizenship (CEC) […]
In 1995, 18 million American children under 10 lived in areas of ozone “non-attainment,” meaning the air they breathed didn’t meet minimal federal standards. That number is higher today. What’s a parent to do? The Natural Resources Defense Council has some ideas, which include limiting your children’s outdoor exercise and participation in school sports on […]
