Hitting a Brick Wall
No Doubt Autism Is Genetic, But Is the Environment Also Implicated?
One Man’s Treasure
Environmental Groups Profit From "Stranded" Inventory The Internet has quickly become an indispensible tool for the environmental movement, offering a cheap and effective way to exchange information and coordinate events among a wide audience. Now, some environmentalists are also seeing the Internet as a way to make money. Portal sites are a starting point for […]
Hands-On Harvesting
Volunteers Get Dirty on International Organic Farms The flock sits safely in the stable, and the nearby streets are silent. The tranquil evenings of Pradorrey, a village in northwestern Spain, are reward enough for a day spent tending sheep and harvesting grapes, but dinner—perhaps of fried sardines with goat cheese, bread and olive oil—awaits as […]
The Artists’ Green Orchard
When the 175-acre Villa Montalvo estate in Saratoga was bequeathed to the state of California in 1930, the owner stipulated that the new park continue nurturing music, art, literature and architecture. One result was the creation, in 1942, of the oldest artists’ residency program west of the Mississippi. In 1998, Villa Montalvo’s board of trustees […]
In the Year of the Dragon
Ironically, China’s only real dragon—the Chinese alligator—may become extinct in the wild in 2000, otherwise known as the Year of the Dragon. One of only two remaining alligator species in the world, this reptile has the dubious distinction of being the planet’s most endangered species. The Chinese alligator—called “Tu Long” or “earth dragon”—and the mythical […]
A Breath of Air In Harlem
In the 1930s, Robert Moses, New York City’s master planner, stripped Harlem of open space land along the Hudson River, replacing public access to the waterfront with the West Side Highway. In rather sharp contrast, Moses’ engineers simultaneously created Riverside Park further south for the benefit of the white middle class. Seventy years later, the […]
Park and Ride to the Park
Last May, Zion National Park in Utah initiated a mandatory shuttle bus transportation system for visitors to Zion Canyon, greatly reducing auto access to the most scenic portions of one of America’s most prized national parks. A typical traffic backup at Zion National Park, which now has mandatory shuttles. “Zion,” a Hebrew word meaning a […]
Prickly Poachers
For many people, cacti are to plants what bulldogs are to house pets—the ugliest examples of the species. But people afflicted with cactophilia are nevertheless drawn to the plant, says Tony Mace, webmaster of the Cactus and Succulent Plant Mall. Mace estimates that there are 500 cactus clubs and over 40,000 collectors worldwide. Some enthusiasts […]
Not Under My Roof
After her five-year-old daughter, Colette, died from a nonhereditary form of childhood cancer, Nancy Chuda knew something in the environment was terribly wrong (see "What Killed Colette Chuda," cover story, May/June 1995).
Dr. Philip Landrigan
Dr. Philip Landrigan has long played an important role in advancing the field of pediatric environmental health — first as an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, then as an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior advisor on children’s health to the Environmental Protection Agency and, most recently, director of the Mount Sinai Center for Children’s Health and the Environment,