Rod Fujita, an Oakland, California-based senior scientist with Environmental Defense who was instrumental in setting up marine reserves in the Florida Keys and the Channel Islands of California, is the author of Heal the Ocean: Solutions for Saving Our Seas (New Society Publishers). He is the recipient of a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation and serves on the National Marine Protected Areas Advisory Committee.
When nutritionist Jane Hurley walked down the potato chip aisle of a supermarket just five years ago, she left with a conclusion that would make a couch potato cringe with guilt: Pretzels. That’s it. If thigh-hugging fat or blood-pressure-singing sodium was an issue, the only thing you could safely eat was unsalted pretzels.
Now that the honeymoon is over, environmentalists are taking a critical look at the Clinton/Gore team’s environmental record – on mining, energy, clean water, environmental racism and a host of other issues. The concensus? Some progress is being made – but there’s a whole lot of room for improvement.
All around the world, islands have become the troubled hot spots of the global eco-crisis. There’s turmoil beyond the sandy beaches and palm trees – environmental devastation, economic upheaval and endangered animal populations.
When navigating the sea of environmentally friendly paper choices, consumers have a lot of jargon to wade through. Here are some of the most common terms: Post-consumer waste: Paper that was printed on, used and recycled. Pre-consumer waste: Paper that wasn’t printed on or used by the consumer. Usually this is the trims from sheeting […]
Earth First has been declared dead many times. In 1987, it was founder Dave Foreman, whose years of grumbling became enshrined in movement music as "The Twelve Resignations," sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." More recently, the somewhat amorphous movement—which doesn’t agree on much, but achieves consensus on not harming people in its work—was hit with the incendiary "ecoterrorism" tag.
It was only in the last century that the culture of a "proper lawn" began to firmly take root in much of the U.S. To achieve that look, Americans apply more than 80 million pounds of chemical products to their lawns and gardens each year. According to one scientist, these chemicals "have poisoned humans and other species, contaminated our water supplies, reduced biodiversity, increased pest resistance, interfered with natural pest control and are directly responsible for a host of other environmental problems."
Slowly but surely, our best natural places are being taken over by Walt Disney, Wayne Huizenga and the other titans of corporate recreation. Even Civil War battlefields are under attack. Will we soon be paying admission to see a tree?
How would Sherlock Holmes tackle the mysterious "Case of the Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat"? Special U.S. Fish and Wildlife homocide is just like investigating a murder. "The only difference is you can’t go out and interview who the leopard was drinking with the night before," he says.
Green travel offers high hopes to a South Africa finally free of apartheid. The country’s coming to realize that preserving its wildlife resources is a key to building a sustainable tourist industry.
