It’s amazing the amount of horrific news we manage to filter out during the course of a day. I recently awoke to discover that there had been a major earthquake in Asia. CNN told me, "Hundreds of people are reported dead after a massive earthquake struck off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, just three months after a huge quake and tsunami devastated the region."
In what could be a crushing blow to Bush administration plans to store the nation’s nuclear waste at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department has announced that federal scientists may have misrepresented findings regarding the potential for water to seep into and jeopardize storage facilities at the controversial site.
"Free parking," it’s a lovely phrase, isn’t it? Since so many of the things we do are not free, it’s great that at least we can stow our vehicles at no cost, right? Well, actually, we are paying dearly for parking, according to a new book by David Shoup, a professor at UCLA.
Despite backing from the majority of the G8 nations currently meeting in Derby, UK, the United States is opposing a British proposal calling on industrialized nations to combat illegal logging in the world’s threatened rainforests by banning the purchase of timber harvested in unsustainable manners.
A magnificent natural phenomenon is slowly vanishing right above our heads. The great North-South bird migration, which stitches the skies each autumn and spring, is steadily subsiding. Scientists blame the decline of migratory birds on habitat loss throughout the Americas.
Millions of Americans were shocked to find out last Wednesday that their Senators had approved oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by a vote of 51-49. Knowing they didn’t have the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster, pro-drilling Senators tacked the drilling provision onto the filibuster-proof budget resolution proposal for 2006.
Canada’s British Columbia is a region of stunning national beauty. The Pacific Northwest city of Vancouver, nestled between coastal mountains, the calm waters of English Bay, and the Burrard Inlet, is in many ways an ideal place to settle. Vancouverites are always ready to extol the virtues of their home – its gentle climate and its wealth of recreational options: You can ski, you can sunbathe, you can take a walk on the seawall around Stanley Park, or you can simply enjoy breathtaking views from any number of spots in and around the city.
You’re sitting at your desk, slightly stiff from a long session starting at the comptuer screen. It’s 4 p.m. and that headache is back. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if your weren’t so unusually fatigued and didn’ t have that tinge of nausea and slight dizziness – and that terrible stuffy nose.
According to a recently released report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 52 percent of the world’s fish stocks are "fully exploited" as compared with 47 percent just two years ago. FAO officials warned that the increased harvesting was unsustainable against the backdrop of rising consumption.
Environmentalists are optimistic that President Bush’s appointment of career scientist Steve Johnson to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signals a renewed scientific focus for an agency bogged down in political skirmishes for the last five years.
