Member Group Pushes for Reform at National Audubon Society
Next month the National Audubon Society board will be answering to a new constituency – their own disgruntled members.
Currents
Greening Cuba
The Island’s New Environmentalism Faces Challenges The students of the escuela primeria in Los Tumbos, a village nestled deep within the rich agricultural province of Pinar Del Réo, constantly hover around the computer awarded to the school a year ago. Their computer runs off of two small solar panels that gleam in the sun when […]
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 […]
Cities That Smell
Some communities have worked hard to get rid of the smells and turn their image around.
Washington Fish Wildlife Wants Orca on Endangered List
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife proposed last week that Puget Sound’s orcas be added to the state’s list of endangered species, citing a dramatic decline in resident whales.