Arriving in Copenhagen by sea, the first thing travelers see of Denmark is a row of 20 enormous wind turbines gently spinning above the waves nearly two miles from shore. Completed last December, the Middelgrunden Wind Farm is the world’s largest offshore wind power facility. Its wind machines, each with blades 100 feet long, together […]
Virginia Tries to Duck Responsibility for Protecting Horseshoe Crabs Horseshoe crabs—actually more related to spiders than crabs—have gotten along fine, without help from human beings, for 300 million years or so, paleontologists estimate, predating even the dinosaurs. But the twentieth century has been a rough one for the horseshoe crab. It began with their existence […]
What is the environmental impact of cruise ships? —David Haviland, Ann Arbor, MI Chris Murphy Illustration For several million passengers each year, an ocean cruise can be the ultimate vacation. But according to the activist group Bluewater Network, "from 1993 to 1998, cruise ships were involved in 104 detected and confirmed cases of illegal discharges […]
Everyone at Lake Tahoe is hoping that history—or at least a very specific historical fact—will repeat itself. Tahoe—a 23-mile-long, 12-mile wide, nearly 1,600-foot-deep lake nestled in the Sierra Nevada—regained its lost clarity after most of the surrounding forests were clear cut in the 1800s and erosion was rampant. That’s particularly good news now, considering that […]
Putting Grounds in the Ground? Starbucks sells more than 10 million cups of coffee worldwide every week, according to spokeswoman Helen Chung. That much coffee leaves an awful lot of grounds to dispose of, and so it was heartening to learn that the manager of a Starbucks in Freehold, New Jersey was, at least for […]
In the case of coffee production, the old ways are the best ways. Traditionally, coffee is grown in the shade of tropical overstory trees, which enrich the soil and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. The practice preserves forest habitat for migratory songbirds, and is friendly to organic production. But by 1990, more than half […]
“Most people don't realize that there are caribou in the lower 48 states,” says wildlife biologist Tim Layser, “and that they are the most endangered population of large mammals in the country. Once spread throughout the West, they all disappeared within a single lifetime.” In an attempt to save the species, a cooperative effort between […]
Damning the Dams North America's native freshwater species—the fish, mussels, crayfish, frogs, snails and other animals that live in rivers and streams—are going extinct as fast as species that live in tropical rainforests. And dams are mostly to blame. That's the message of a recent report, America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2000, released by the […]
Discovering the Great Outdoors With L.L. Bean
Environmental Groups Profit From "Stranded" Inventory The Green Widget Company (GWC) was in a quandary: Acme Widget Supply had executed a purchase order for $200,000 worth of recycled Widgets in a unique sea foam color, then promptly went out of business. GWC was sitting on inventory it couldn't sell, and it was spending money every […]
