Taking a tour of historic sites in the old city of Baltimore can be a rewarding experience—until you turn a corner in the central business district and find—devastation. What was described in the guidebooks as a block of pubs with architecture reminiscent of London is now mostly rubble and boarded-up bars. What happened to Baltimore? […]
Flower Farms May Threaten Workers and the Environment Driving through central Costa Rica below the Tilaran Mountains, travelers see a hillside blanketed with exotic flowers. But the bucolic vision is immediately undercut by the sight of a semi-rusted drum, etched with a skull-and-crossbones warning. Workers—mostly women—dip plants ready for shipping into a noxious-looking brew. The […]
Is One Of The Greatest Engineering Marvels Of The Industrial Age Becoming Obsolete?
Winter flooding in the Los Angeles area is often so severe that lives and homes are routinely lost in mudslides. Yet, the thirst for a stable water supply has defined this desert city. In 1913, the local water company built an ingenious but ethically dubious aqueduct to drain the Owens River 200 miles away into […]
Protection Varies at America’s 12 Marine Reserves Galyn C. Hammond The wind muffles his speech as Ed Cassano, manager of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, looks out from his 56-foot research vessel Ballena. He gazes onto the broad Pacific waters that nurture the largest concentration of blue whales in the world—not to mention plentiful […]
Frederick Law Olmsted had little idea how prescient he was when he said in 1827 that the midtown Manhattan park he was creating be the “lungs of the city.”
A Grassroots Effort in Baja Pays Off In a remote area reachable only by a rough road that runs through a cactus-laden desert, Mexico’s Cabo Pulmo Bay appears abruptly from a bluff overlooking Baja’s Sea of Cortez. Here, 65 miles northeast of Cabo San Lucas, lies the only living coral reef system in western North […]
Agriculture, urban sprawl and fire suppression have left Iowa with less than one-tenth of one percent of its native prairies.
Increased Pollution And Lax Water Quality Standards Lessen Summer Fun In The Sun
Urban Community Gardens Fight to Save Their Space In the heart of downtown Manhattan, peeking out from between towering brick high-rises, is a little green oasis called the Liz Christy Garden. Inside, urban sojourners can watch fish and turtles glide beneath the surface of a pond. For others, the garden offers a rare opportunity to […]
