Remember emissions trading? Six years ago, it was all the rage, a new way to reduce pollution that reconciled the seemingly intractable forces of market capitalism and environmental protection. When Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990, politicians, some environmentalists, and many an industry executive, proposed market incentives as a way of curbing sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, instead of the traditional (and here’s that bad word again) regulatory approach.
Armando Valbuena Gouriyu speaks with quiet pride about his people, the Wayuu, an indigenous tribe inhabiting the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia, the northernmost point in South America. With a decentralized, rural society, the Wayuu successfully resisted colonial conquest. They traded with the British, Dutch and French, fought off pirates, and stubbornly retained a barter economy, as well as their own language and customs. "That helped us to survive," Gouriyu says.
Environmentalists fight to protect the microscopic creatures that dwell on the ocean’s bottom.
Earthjustice Makes a Case for the Environment In a court of law, where rulings are often based on legal precedents, the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice often ends up citing the legal precedent of itself. The group, founded in 1971 as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, has grown and evolved along with the history […]
In the Wake of September 11, Environmental Direct-Action Groups Change Their Tactics On the morning of September 11, Congressman Don Young (R-AK) warned against a rush to judgment about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Young told a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News that responsibility could lie with groups […]
New Technologies Reduce Emissions, but Sharp Criticisms Persist Most environmentalists cringed when they heard the words "clean" and "coal" used together in Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy plan. Coal is unpopular enough with the general public, but among the environmentally aware, it ranks only slightly higher than drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife […]
San Francisco Community Activists Fight the Navy’s Toxic Legacy In the southern part of San Francisco Bay, a sunny, breezy peninsula known as Bayview Hunters Point provides breathtaking coastal views. The community has the highest percentage of home ownership in San Francisco, according to Cory Calandra, executive director of the Bayview-based San Francisco League of […]
The GrassRoots Recycling Network Pressures Coke to Use Recycled Plastic.
The Rails-To-Trails Conservancy Is Turning Unused Rail Corridors Into Hiking Trails.
The Public Land Management Benefits from User Fees, But Will Nature Lose Out?
