Investigating a Food Supply Gone Haywire Like a lot of other Americans, journalist Nicols Fox, a former editor at the Washington Journalism Review and a correspondent for The Economist, first heard about the deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in 1993. That was the year it attacked a group of Northwestern children, all of whom had […]
Breathing Silica, Washing Vegetables and Saving Habitat What are the health effects of clumping cat litter on humans? Are there any negative side effects from breathing the actual litter? —Andy and Taeja Klukas, Maple Grove, MN Clay-based cat litters contain crystalline silica, the main component in sand, rock and mineral ores. A possible health threat […]
Transferring a second group of wolves from Fort St. John, British Columbia to Yellowstone National Park and the Frank Church River of No Return National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho this January was a controversial move (See Latitudes, August 1995) that not only ignited sparks with ranchers near Yellowstone, but also with some Canadians, like the activist group Friends of the Wolf (FOW).
Six years after the world saw incriminating footage of a Princess Cruises ship dumping 20 plastic garbage bags into the sea (See In Brief, "Getting the Goods on Ocean Dumpers," July/August 1995), the cruise line has apparently cleaned up its act and won recognition from The Center for Marine Conservation (CMC) as a leading conservation-friendly cruise line.
How green is Hollywood? The film community’s environmental image has been endangered by its reliance on lauan, a rare tropical hardwood from Southeast Asia, popular for construction projects on Hollywood movie sets (See "Green Contradictions in Hollywood," In Brief, July/August 1995).
Ben Franklin’s choice for our national bird, the wild turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo) has not always had an easy time finding a place in its homeland.
They may not leap tall buildings in single bounds, but California grade school kids are becoming true heroes with the state’s Adopt-A-Species program. In a state that has more endangered and threatened species than any other in the continental U.S., kid volunteers have found a way to turn their youthful energies and enthusiasm into a force to save animals and rare plants.
While the Olympic Games are trying to bring the nations of the world together in sport, the environment can suffer in several ways: from the need to construct and update event venues, from the sheer numbers of visitors during the two-week events (and the associated pollution from traffic), and from the waste that is left behind once the participants go home.
On American Beach on South Amelia Island, Florida lives MaVynee Betsch, a woman of substance. Known by locals as "The Beach Lady," Betsch has made it her full-time mission since 1975 to preserve and protect American Beach from development and destruction.
The green-sounding Environmental Technology Challenge, a public-private partnership involving both the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and companies that paid $25,000 each to be “founding leaders,” was launched with much fanfare early this year in central Florida, Portland, Oregon, Baltimore, Chicago, and Chula Vista, California. The stated purpose: to encourage other corporations and municipalities to […]
