From inter-sex fish in the Potomac River to frog mutations in Wisconsin, federal officials are spending this summer studying the effects of pharmaceuticals such as pain killers and depression medicine on the environment, because the drugs have turned up in America’s drinking water.
In one of the most compelling environmental success stories of the past 30 years, the Midwest has experienced a prairie renaissance—the widespread restoration of prairies and related ecosystems to ecological health.
Joe must have been in his 80s but didn’t really seem to care how old he was. He had been running the little shanty beach-bar for decades, and told me he’d been a prisoner of both the Japanese and the British during World War II. His speciality was a Singapore sling of lethal strength, and as I sipped gingerly he told me what had gone wrong with Rantau Abang and the turtles. Fifty years ago, apparently, female turtles nested on this beach in their hundreds during July and August. Now it had fallen to a handful.
In what some environmentalists are calling a welcome adjustment, Honda announced last week that it is scrapping the slow-selling performance-oriented hybrid version of its Accord sedan, which debuted in 2004.
Last week, the Bush administration proposed allowing logging on 1.5 million acres of federal old-growth forest lands in the Pacific Northwest previously protected under 1994’s Northwest Forest Plan. It had been designated as habitat critical to the survival of the endangered northern spotted owl.
Starting June 12, I will be crisscrossing the country with 12 other college-age riders to honor Mo Udall’s legacy by highlighting young public servants nationwide who are finding solutions to pressing environmental and Native American issues. In New York City, we"ll be looking at ecologically landscaped post-industrial sites; in New Orleans, we"ll be working with Replant New Orleans to restore soil health and the urban canopy; in Denver, our tour’s arrival is timed to coincide with the launch of an art show centered on the theme of sustainable transportation and urban planning. At each site, the initiatives we are highlighting are being moved forward by activists and advocates under the age of 30.
In what environmentalists are calling a startling rebuke to company management, 31 percent of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor of a resolution calling on the company to set global warming emission targets for both its products and its operations.
In what environmentalists are calling a startling rebuke to company management, 31 percent of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor of a resolution calling on the company to set global warming emission targets for both its products and its operations.
Despite optimism that China is finally starting to recognize the importance of sustainability, a top Chinese official last week shrugged off requests from the European Union (EU) to take nationwide action to curb the emission of greenhouse gases responsible for human-induced global warming.
International consumer products conglomerate Unilever, which owns and operates the world’s two leading tea brands (Lipton in the U.S. and PG Tips in Great Britain), announced last week that it plans to shift sourcing of its entire tea supply to sustainable producers.
