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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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,
Will Green Power Survive California’s Energy Crisis? With bated breath, the nation has been watching California to see how electric utility restructuring would affect the price of power, the reliability of electric service and the green power industry. Consumer advocates hoped for lower power prices. Environmentalists hoped to see green power on a larger scale […]
After Internal Turmoil, a More Focused Greenpeace is Back Fighting Polluters A growling dump truck stopped in front of the Naval Observatory, just a few feet from Vice President Dick Cheney"s residence. The truck"s back hatch opened, emptying five tons of coal onto the street courtesy of the direct-action group Greenpeace. One coal dumper told […]
A Historic Agreement Protects Canada’s Largest Temperate Rainforest A historic agreement reached this April between Canadian environmental groups and Canada"s logging industry will ensure the long-term security of British Columbia"s threatened west coast Great Bear Rainforest. The groundbreaking deal promises to bring an end to almost 20 years of some of the most intense and […]
Although light rail trains are favored by many forward-thinking transportation agencies, buses carry far more commuters. The public transportation fleet in the U.S. consists of 129,000 vehicles; 58 percent of them are buses, and only one percent are light rail cars. Sixty-one percent of all public transportation employees work for bus services. Of the 8.7 […]
I have two daughters, ages four and seven, and the girls were on my mind as I was editing this issue’s comprehensive package on children’s environmental health. I think my wife and I do a reasonable job of protecting them from harm: We walk them to the school bus, make sure they look both ways […]
