The Kenai Peninsula is often named as one of the most diverse and beautiful regions of Alaska. The vast majority of the peninsula lies within public lands, including national and state parks, a wildlife refuge and a national forest (see Going Green, “Alaska in Miniature,” July/August 1998). Today, there’s a major threat to its wetlands. An invasive plant called purple loosestrife (native to Europe) has been found growing wild in nearby Anchorage for the first time.
More than 100,000 seabirds of various species washed up on Pacific beaches from central California to British Columbia this past summer—at a time when they should have been in peak condition. Was climate change a factor?
Peter Cordani’s plan is to fly planes into the eye of a hurricane, cutting a triangular swath to the center while dumping his absorbent “hurricane powder.” As the polymer powder absorbs the hurricane’s moisture, in theory it would slow down the rotation and cool the storm, thus taking much of the force out of it.
Wild jaguars in the U.S.? What sounds implausible was proven true in 1996 when two male jaguars were photographed, first in southern New Mexico and then in Arizona. Until that time, experts had concluded that our hemisphere’s biggest cat had disappeared forever from America.
When John von Gonten came down with sinus & respiratory problems & severe headaches, he suspected Alcoa, located eight miles from his property.
In recent years, high commodities prices, lax national laws and corrupt governments have intensified interest in mining Latin America’s vast ore lodes. But miners are increasingly pitted against indigenous movements demanding, sometimes violently, social investments and environmental protections.
In Scottsdale, Arizona, Bryan Beaulieu, an engineer and inventor with 20 patents in structural systems, recently built a $2 million solar-and-hydrogen-powered "dream" house. Though not Scottsdale’s most expensive residence, the 6,000-square-foot luxury home is—by far—the most environmentally sustainable.
I found your September/October 2005 cover story “Cities of the Future” informative and well done. I believe, however, that some of the information regarding Jakarta, where I lived for several years in the early 1990s, is dated, and in some cases superficial. Jakarta had the “three passengers in one car” policy for vehicles traveling into […]
If you’re like me, your head will be spinning reading Jim Motavalli’s cover story this issue (“The Outlook on Oil,” page 26). How can so many “experts” and “industry analysts” have such varying opinions as to when we will—or when we did—reach the world’s peak of oil production? What with predictions ranging from right now to 30 years hence to 30 years ago, I can only conclude one of two things: (a) only one of them is right; or (b) none of them are right.
Environmentalists analyzing governmental and independent soil test data from New Orleans are appalled that the government has allowed people to return, albeit briefly, to certain of the hardest hit neighborhoods in recent weeks. Erik Olson of the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) believes that government officials have been "grossly misleading the public" by not warning former inhabitants returning to collect belongings that their property may well still be contaminated by heavy metals and banned pesticides left behind after the hurricane-induced late summer flooding.
