Currents

Attempting to Push an Anti-Environmental Agenda, Congress Goes Into Stealth Mode.

In yet another example of the dire state of the world’s oceans, the World Conservation Union announced last week that it will be adding 10 species of sharks and rays to its global "Red List" of endangered species. Researchers cite overfishing throughout the world’s oceans as well as soaring demand for shark fin in Asia as the primary culprits in the global decline of shark populations.

Rocky Flats nuclear facility became the Department of Energy’s (DOE) golden child in July when the last of the weapons-grade plutonium stored there was shipped away ahead of schedule. For nearly 40 years, Rocky Flats, just 15 miles northwest of downtown Denver, produced plutonium pits or "triggers" for thousands of the country’s stockpiled nuclear weapons. Remediation at the Flats, a highly contaminated Superfund site, is also moving forward dramatically under budget. Instead of the anticipated $37 billon, cleanup is now projected at $7 billion. In a time of federal budget deficits, and with Superfund’s core funding stream whittled away to $28 million, accelerated cleanup seems too good to be true. Many community members and environmental organizations—while happy to see the 6,400-acre site out of commission—are concerned that the project is being done in haste and find it unsettling that plutonium residue and toxins will be left several feet under the surface.

John Muir called them “the greatest of living things.” California’s giant sequoias—also known simply as “the big trees”—have outlived millennia of ecological and cultural change on the west side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. These grand monuments to natural history, which can grow taller than the Statue of Liberty, were full grown when Jesus Christ […]

As Habitat Shrinks, a Shade-Grown Harvest Saves Songbirds Morning commuters, struggling to stay awake and focus on the day’s newspaper, probably don’t spend a lot of time worrying where their cup of coffee comes from. They’d be surprised to learn that it was most likely picked by Central American workers earning less than a dollar […]

WIC, A Federal Food Program, Gets Supplemental Common Sense.

New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, a picturesque area topped by expansive alpine terrain in the White Mountain National Forest, has long been known as a place where fair weather can quickly turn vicious. No one knows this better than the Appalachian Mountain Club. For over a century, the AMC has used its hut system in the […]

The Social and Ecological Consequences of High-Intensity Shrimp Farming Lider G?ngora knows this part of the Pacific like the back of his hand. The founder of the environmental organization Fundaci?n de Defensa Ecologica (FUNDECOL) stands stoically at the back of the boat, gripping the handle of the 75-horsepower Yamaha outboard motor and wiping salt spray […]

Maine’s Northern Forests are Going to the Highest Bidder.

In the drought-stricken farm belt of southeastern Colorado, down-on-their-luck farmers and wide-eyed environmentalists alike are looking forward to the day when many more Americans derive their electricity from the wind, an ultimately renewable, pollution-free source of energy. And the state-funded Colorado Green Project is helping make this vision into a reality.