Damning Dams
Is One Of The Greatest Engineering Marvels Of The Industrial Age Becoming Obsolete?
Currents
Ford Turns to Toyota for Hybrid Car Help
Toyota announced last Tuesday that Ford would use some of its hybrid engine technology, in a pact that underlines the Japanese auto giant's strong lead in eco-friendly gasoline-electric systems.
Getting on Track
The discovery of gold in the spiritually important Little Rocky Mountains in northern Montana is a curse that the Native-American community of Fort Belknap has lived with for more than 100 years. During the 19th century, the mountains were removed from the tribe’s reservation so prospectors could dig for gold. The community is still suffering, this time from the side effects of industrial-scale mining.
Greener Cleaners
For years, “environmentally friendly” was a phrase unlikely to be connected with the dry cleaning industry. Perchloroethylene (PERC), the solvent used by dry cleaners, is a volatile toxin—responsible for both air and water pollution, as well as human health problems. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences assessment of PERC reads like a description of […]
Caught in the Crossfire
The endangered African mountain gorillas are suffering in the aftermath of the Rwandan civil war. Ten gorillas have died within the last 18 months, and it was gunshots and spears–not natural causes–that led to their deaths.
Planting Seeds
A Many-Headed Student Group Gets Out the Green Vote In recent years, young voters have deafened pollsters with their silence, heralding the arrival of what could be seen as a new silent majority for our time. In the 1994 congressional elections, only 15 percent of eligible young people voted. The Center for Environmental Citizenship (CEC) […]
Here Comes Civilization
Utter wilderness is what lucky visitors seek—and get—from the western reaches of labyrinthine fjords of Prince William Sound. But the feeling that you’re traveling through a series of beautiful landscape paintings may erode now that the remote area expects its first marine gas station. To backcountry enthusiasts, the idea is as incongruous as finding a Starbucks at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Burning Biomass
Are We Overlooking Some of the World’s Sustainable Energy Fuels? Ever since humans first huddled around a fire for warmth, people have burned logs, straw, wood and animal waste—otherwise known as biomass—to create energy. Indeed, throughout most of history, these crude forms of fuel answered the world’s energy needs. Only after the industrial age matured […]
Report Finds Reverse Environmental Justice By Bush EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to provide adequate protection to minorities and low-income families who are disproportionately affected by pollution, according to a report released last week by EPA's Inspector General (IG).
Russia’s Global Treasure
When most Americans think of Russian nature, they think of environmental catastrophe—Chernobyl, oil spills, pollution. Yet Russia, with one-eighth of the Earth’s land area, has one of the world’s premiere systems of strictly protected areas, called "zapovedniks." Few people outside Russia know of the system or its important part in sustaining the global ecological balance. Large tracts of virgin forest play a role in global ecology comparable to rain forests. Intact areas of wilderness allow large-scale animal migrations. Scientific data long collected in the zapovednik system could shed light on global climate change and ecological trends.